Depending on the tax bracket and the state, they might or might not be.
At the top tax bracket in NYC or CA, you have iirc 35% federal + 13% state so almost 50%, and that’s not all of it (there’s payroll tax, social security etc).
Products in the US are cheap, but services are expensive, and healthcare is tied to your employer.
My impression is that if you’re young, healthy and without children, the US is much cheaper.
But e.g. putting a kid through college is $200k in the US vs free in the EU.
>Depending on the tax bracket and the state, they might or might not be.
I looked it up for Germany. Let's say you make $400k married with children sole income earner. In Germany your tax comes out to 41%. In NYC it comes out to 34%. Not sure if Germany has the same number of deductions and loopholes as US taxes. If it doesn't then the US one would be even lower due to those.
>But e.g. putting a kid through college is $200k in the US vs free in the EU.
There are cheaper state schools which can be rather good but in general yeah. That said when the post-tax income is $150k more in the US versus Europe the $50k/year for college isn't that much.
> And aren't US taxes quite low compared to much of Europe?
Maybe if you go through the pain of having 'do taxes' be something you have to do, maximise your 'deductions', and look only at income/sales tax, neglecting tax-advantaged savings vehicles & home ownership.
