> Which worker bees are paying 35-50%?

Lots of people in Europe. Which for sure is also a big market for FB. In Germany you are already have deductions of nearly 50% if your income is around 50000€.

I do not see how a person making 50k € in Germany would have a gross/net difference of 50 %.

According to [1], the gross/net difference would be about 34 % in the worst case (highest tax class, no children, not married etc.), which includes social security, health insurance and so on. The calculator gives realistic results for my own income.

[1] https://www.brutto-netto-rechner.info/

If I enter 50k there, and a tax class 1, then I end up with

Netto: 2.456,06 € 29.472,66 €

which means 40% deductions. Which is approximately what I meant (yes, 50% was slightly too high).

You have to enter a value in the tax allowance field ("Jährl. Steuerfreibetrag"). The first 9000 € (if not married) a year are not taxed.

At 50k you are paying between 10-15% income tax.

> Which worker bees are paying 35-50%?

With the “and other witholdings” it's pretty easy to hit, as typical withholdings beyond income tax include state and federal payroll taxes, employee share of group health insurance and HSA withholdings, pre-tax parking withholdings, retirement contributions, etc.

You are not including all the other taxes and withholdings that serve to raise that percentage. Personal income tax is only one -- disability, medicare, state tax, and so on. Total tax burden to all parties needs to be no more than 20% or so.

If the government here offered a quality of life equivalent to what I experienced living in western europe I'd be fine with it. But we are not getting my 35% worth of government service

You're not including payroll, sales, or property taxes, though.

Even making $100K+ in Cali puts you around 38% fed + state income tax.

> Even making $100K+ in Cali puts you around 38% fed + state income tax.

No, it doesn't.

It put you—in 2017, the number is lower in 2018—assuming no deductions—at a combined 37.3% marginal rate, but a substantially lower overall rate.

My total outlay for 2017 was around 35%, taking 1 deduction, and my income is near that $100k mark. And I still had to fork over an extra $600 on tax day.

On California state plus federal income taxes (the claim I was responding to) that's simply impossible even if you refer to AGI and not gross income before deductions. If you are including some other taxes, such as payroll taxes, it's possible but not the claim I was responding to.