You single and don't have a personal vehicle? I'm Married, and have kids, in a lower COL area. I paid ~9% federal income tax, ~7% state income tax, ~1% of that in property tax, without attributing for healthcare insurance every paycheck, and uncounted more in sales tax, gas tax, etc etc. I have spent ~90% of my take home income trying to barely survive in the last year.

Being able to save 50% of your income is a level of privilege many don't have regardless of effective tax rates.

totally agree, but it sounds like you're paying way less in taxes than you would be paying in Europe.

Took the time to add it all up. Between federal,state,city income tax, sales tax, property tax, excise taxes, healthcare (which European taxes pay for already) premiums; I pay 53% of my income in some form of taxes. I'm not sure if that's less taxes than in Europe, but I'm pretty sure they don't pay 50%+ of their pay towards tax.

Incredible. I wonder what you're doing differently. My rate is around 30% and I live in San Francisco and pay ~9% to the state. Like most of my 150,000 coworkers, I pay ~0% out of pocket for healthcare. Maybe that's the main difference?