On this taxation issue, comparisons of a single tax are pretty meaningless, in terms of we have 8% sales tax, but they have 32%. Most Americans don't even know how much tax they pay because many taxes are built into the price of the goods, like foods and gasoline. Many corporations pay taxes that are simply built into the prices of their products or services. Nobody has mentioned property taxes, and I certainly don't now how that compares.
It's not because most people aren't 100% sure where they pay which taxes that a comparisson cannot be made
It
is possible, just not very feasible.
In Belgium for example we pay 21% VAT. That's an added tax value on any product sold. Then there's an income tax that in many cases is greater than 50%. In fact, the more you earn, the more taxes you'll pay, and once you're in a certain pay slice so to speak you'll be shelling out well over 50%.
But, I'm not all too sure how much extra cost goes into owning a house, because that's usually dependant on the county/city you live in, it's not regulated on a federal level.
Admitted, that's just a rough sketch, because like any government, it's indeed not always clear what we have to pay.
Anyway, that's just saying what we have to pay, roughly, as a lowly student I haven't felt much of taxation yet, apart from the times when I spend
any money. Though I guess bank transactions are tax exempt
... unless of course you buy a product... sigh.
-Z
