Interesting stuff about the different natioins. In the US, not only do you pay income tax to the federales & to most states, but most states (and some counties, cities, etc.) also have sales taxes and excise taxes on many goods.
For instance, in Illinois I pay, in addition to federal income tax, 3% state income tax and 5 - 8.25% sales tax on purchases depending on where you make the purchase (IL is the base 5%; some counties & municipalities add additional taxes).
There are also real estate taxes; for the house I just bought, property taxes amount to about 2.1% of the purchase price. Property taxes are, however, annual and are not tied to the purchase of a home.
Excise taxes raise the cost of vehicle license plates in Indiana. Based on the value of the car in stead of the (more reasonable) amount of damage the vehicle's weight causes tot he roadway, license plates for expensive cars can cost 10 times that for an inexpensive or older car. Illinois is at least more reasonable in this respect; $78 flat fee for all passenger cars.
For me, these extra taxes add up to about an additional 17% of my annual income. For these countries that have such high income taxes, are there equivalents to sales, property, and excise taxes as well?
- Fushigi