Plus many European countries have _lots_ of taxes that aren't income tax, that don't apply to the US to the same degree. Not sure how this works out for the UK or Germany, but a high-income earner in Norway who uses a lot of their disposable income might pay 75% of their pre-tax salary in taxes and fees. This is in spite of an income tax that is 43% at the top marginal bracket, of which ~8 percentage points is in effect forced pension savings.