It's not a tax drain though. It funds things like higher education and healthcare. Things that most Americans have to pay out of pocket if they want which entrenches the lack of class mobility in this country. Imo the european system is better.
> It funds things like higher education and healthcare
The US funds the healthcare above and beyond what any other country on Earth is doing. I think it's 50% higher than the next contender, per capita.
As for higher education, the US universities are doing much much better than their European counterparts. If you get a STEM degree, you're basically set for life in the US, pay your debts in no time and then enjoy a salary that can easily be 2 times higher than in Europe. In Europe you get a free education, which opens up the exciting opportunity to toil for 60k-80k (pre-tax) a year for the rest of your life. Take the tax out, and you're left with around 50% of that money.
The US universities are fine. The STEM graduates are fine. The problem is with all the non-marketable degrees for which students get into serious debt. I don't think we should subsidize those more, I think we should discourage students from attending useless degrees. If the government will pay for the degrees, then the government will also have a heavy hand in picking winners and losers in terms of classes, degrees, schools etc. This is how it's in Europe, and it shows, they are lacking performance.
Not every US STEM degree gets you a six figure job. STEM majors are some of the most awarded degrees in all colleges; there is a huge oversupply in the labor pool unless you are able to differentiate yourself which is not easy and usually requires post graduate education or nepotism. For the vast majority of STEM B.S. degrees, even a computer science degree in the midwest, you might be toiling for 60k-80k too. No one I knew who graduated in computer science in my undergrad has some glamorous bay area life today. Most ended up getting jobs in places like Nebraska or somewhere humid in the south writing terrible enterprise software and they complain to me how much it sucks. The bay area and that high income tech culture is a tiny little bubble, despite all the ink spilled over it.
I was talking about averages, you counter with a very specific example: midwest or southern states software devs.
I could counter with Italy, where you can call yourself lucky if you get 2000 Euros a month after taxes, as a senior dev. And it's not a particularly cheap country either.
Keep in mind that the sums are usually before tax. Income taxes in the US for a 100k salary can be as low as 10%. Add 5% for healthcare and you end up with 85% in your pocket. In Europe, with the exception of Switzerland, they will take 45-55% of your money, especially above 60k; so from a 60k salary in Germany you take home 30k.
I would say 30k vs 85k is a lot to make up the difference for "free" college and "free" healthcare.
If you could choose free university and then 50 years of 30k income VS 200k in debts and then 50 years of 85k income, what would you choose?
But again, my point is that the US education and healthcare have enough funding even with the lower taxation. Funding is not a problem, US has more or similar funding than other developed nations: healthcare, education, welfare benefits.
> Most ended up getting jobs in places like Nebraska or somewhere humid in the south writing terrible enterprise software and they complain to me how much it sucks.
Hello, friend. No but seriously, if anyone has any good advice on how to escape this, I’m listening.
