OK, but you've highlighted the difference between US and AU median wealth; a lot of Australian wealth is tied up in this real estate. My relatives who own property (purchased cheap decades ago) can hop from enormously expensive house to enormously expensive house; the ones that don't can only dream of home ownership anywhere near a major city.

There is functionally a 0% tax bracket in the US, because everyone gets a default tax deduction.

In general, I agree with you - particularly in the realm of healthcare and college educations - but there's a lot of nuance in the details.