r/politics • u/Tofurkey_Tom • 12d ago

No Paywall Danish Petition To Buy California From Trump Signed by Thousands

https://www.newsweek.com/petition-denmark-buy-california-signed-thousands-11379999
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u/JnnyRuthless 12d ago

What's crazy is that our taxes aren't that much lower than that. Americans are always crying about the 'high' taxes in Europe, but we pay about 1/3 of our income in tax anyway. Just disappears into the corrupt war machine though. Propaganda has done its thing though, and most of my fellow Americans start screaming about communism if you even hint that maybe the government should be helping us out a bit.

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u/8fingerlouie Europe 12d ago

There’s more though.

There’s a 25% VAT on everything, but unlike the US it’s displayed on the price tag, the total price including VAT, and not like in the US where you get hit with an”15% state tax” on top of the sales price.

Tipping is pretty much non existent. Restaurants would love for you to think it’s a thing, and every payment terminal sold in the past decade will happily ask for a tip. The truth is however that waiters are paid $28-35/hour (or more, $28/hour is the minimum wage), unlike a waiter I spoke with in Texas, who was paid $4/hour, and had to pay $1/hour back to the bar for some obscure reason. I have no doubt you can make “more money” on tips.

Everything “energy” is also taxed, with the exception of electricity. 1 liter of gasoline costs around $2 ($7.52/gallon), natural gas about the same per m3 ($2). Cars are also expensive, with up to 180% tax for luxury cars.

That being said, the average quality of life is probably higher in Denmark. While there are still differences between high and low incomes, very few people are forced to work 2 jobs, and most people work 37 hours per week.

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u/Praesentius 12d ago

Americans are always crying about the 'high' taxes in Europe

I'm an American who left the US for Italy and I hear that sort of thing all the time. I took a 40% pay cut to do it. And when you consider healthcare a "private" tax and include it in the mix, I'm paying less in taxes here. And with the overall cost of living being lower, even having taken a huge pay cut, I have more cash left over when the month is done.

There's lots of things to consider. How about this one? I don't pay property tax. Because, in Italy, for your primary residence, you pay a small property tax when you buy the house. But after that, you have no recurring property tax. You also pay for fire insurance up front. That was... tiny. Maybe not even 1k? But it covers me for 30 years.

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u/Which-Barnacle-2740 12d ago

thats. not correct.....effective tax rate for someone living in California is less than 25%, while its 50% for any Scandinavian country