• BlackLaZoR@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    My taxes went from roughly 42% to 45%. I also now get health care and education for my kids at a fraction of the price

    Your particular case is irrelevant.

    If you look at total taxation as government spending in GDP, in US it’s like ~30%

    In France or Germany ~50%

    • Matty Roses@lemmy.today
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      1 day ago

      Your figures are just nowhere near reality - and this - total taxation as government spending in GDP isn’t a thing.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_revenue

      Your particular case is irrelevant.

      No, it’s not. Because it shows exactly why your logic is nonsense.

      The US has low overall tax rates - because it cuts the taxes for wealthy people while having tax on labor that is similar to most EU nations. It then also imposes large costs on middle class families to support its spending, which is very much pushed to the arms you seem to think are a good idea.

      Its low quality of life isn’t unrelated.

      • BlackLaZoR@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        It is a thing, it just measures taxation in a different way.

        What you linked is measure of what is officially considered as tax

        Meanwhile spending to GDP measures every fee that state collected + deficit spending. That includes regular taxes, state run healthcare insurance, social security, deficit spending, fines, ect. You can find more about in under the term ‘Tax Freedom Day’

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Freedom_Day

        It’s much better measure of actual burden of state ‘tax’ collection on the society because it encompasses everything.

        • Matty Roses@lemmy.today
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          1 day ago

          Oh, I’m familiar with that term. It’s marketing nonsense brought to you by the same people that thought the Laffer Curve was not only real, but that the United States was on the right side of it.

          As even your article states, the argument against it is beyond simple, as the figure ignores what the taxes buy. And the exact point is that Europe, with slightly higher taxes, provides significantly more to its citizens for their taxes.

          How does it do that? Well, it’s pretty simple - it spends far less on expensive weapons systems (which as the Iran War has shown are overpriced failures at best), and less on things that go to corporate bottom lines, like private medical care.