>It's very hard to compare like for like with taxation. For example health care costs in the US are effectively privatised taxation. So are the wildly inflated

>It's very hard to compare like for like with taxation. For example health care costs in the US are effectively privatised taxation. So are the wildly inflated utility prices that the UK has developed. I'll quibble with you here. I think you're correctly identifying a problem, but I would argue inflated utility or healthcare costs are the effect of bloated monopolies. In the USA in the early 20th century certain monopolies were successfully combatted with federal legal power. The time may come again that abusive or inefficient industries in Western countries are significantly restructured. Unfortunately (fortunately?) the wheels of government turn slowly.