When you look at Europe, they raise most of their taxes from the lower to middle classes, i.e. people like me. Through both higher income taxes and then a 20% V

When you look at Europe, they raise most of their taxes from the lower to middle classes, i.e. people like me. Through both higher income taxes and then a 20% VAT on most purchases you make with your post-tax earnings. Here is an interesting paper (pdf warning) which on page 49 shows a very good visual of just how progressive the US tax system is compared to both Eastern and Western Europe. In Europe, the tax burden is much more evenly distributed across incomes. https://wid.world/document/why-is-europe-more-equal-than-the-united-states-world-inequality-lab-wp-2020-19/ https://wid.world/document/why-is-europe-more-equal-than-the... If you'd like to not bother with the the pdf, here's the image directly. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FD_3ONtXoBMZUGs.png https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FD_3ONtXoBMZUGs.png