I don’t think we need to force people to pay into retirement funds, especially if we all agree that they’re not effective. What I mean by an ETF is that, instead of the government taking 8% of my income, I actively save that 8% in an ETF (or even bonds). After 25 years or so, those who invest in ETFs will likely see better compound returns compared to those contributing to state-run pension funds.
As for your question about countries that don’t take income tax but rather allocate a portion of income to a personal, non-government-backed retirement account—take a look at Brazil's Fundo de Garantia do Tempo de Serviço (FGTS) as an example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundo_de_Garantia_do_Tempo_de_....
> what countries specifically don’t take income tax, but instead take a cut of income and put it into a non-government backed retirement account associated specifically to that person
Government will never "avoid taking income tax", but instead they will take your income tax and force the employer to finance the employee's retirement account.
As for your question about countries that don’t take income tax but rather allocate a portion of income to a personal, non-government-backed retirement account—take a look at Brazil's Fundo de Garantia do Tempo de Serviço (FGTS) as an example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundo_de_Garantia_do_Tempo_de_....
> what countries specifically don’t take income tax, but instead take a cut of income and put it into a non-government backed retirement account associated specifically to that person
Government will never "avoid taking income tax", but instead they will take your income tax and force the employer to finance the employee's retirement account.