#56
Post
by barnabas1969 » Fri Jan 25, 2013 12:47 am
It's interesting to hear perspectives from around the world on topics such as income, taxes, and expenses for things like electricity, natural gas, gasoline, food, water, cable/satellite television, etc. Based on my conversations with people I know who live in Europe, we in the US are spoiled. We think we earn too little and pay too much in taxes. We think that the cost of food and gasoline are outrageous. But based on my conversations with people across the pond, we're very lucky.
For example, I have a friend who lives in Austria. His name is Thomas. He works for a tech firm. So do I. Thomas and I have very similar jobs. We speak occasionally via e-mail, and we meet in person once a year at a technical conference that lasts for four days each year. We usually spend at least 7-8 hours together in the evenings during the conference. We talk about subjects ranging from family, politics, technical stuff, taxes, finances, salaries... you name it.
Thomas is a smart man, and he is well respected at his company. He's been there for a long time, like I have been at my company for a long time. He's one of those people at his company who is considered to be a very valuable asset... like me. He makes about 65% as much as I do (gross, before taxes), and he tells me that almost 60% of his income goes to taxes.
Now, granted, he has universal health care, so he doesn't pay anything each month for health/dental/vision insurance. I do. He also says that there are lots of other public services that are paid by his taxes, and he enjoys the use of those services.
From my experience living in a high-tax US state vs. a low-tax US state, I can understand what he means. In the high-tax state where I once lived, there were plenty of free or very cheap public facilities for entertainment... and public education was far better than it is here in Florida. In Florida, which is a low-tax state, there is very little public entertainment (parks, etc), and they are not even close to the caliber of the places that were available where I used to live. The main public entertainment in Florida is the beach. And, living less than 5 miles (8km) from the beach, I do enjoy that.
But, overall, I think we in the USA are very lucky to live where we do. And we still complain about it. That's a shame.