This statement is meaningless without specifying the brackets or providing an effective tax rate for a certain amount of income.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/taxes/federal-income-tax-...
https://www.gov.uk/income-tax-rates
The 45% income tax rate is for 150k GBP, which is $167k. The top bracket for US federal income tax starts at $578k/$693k at a 37% tax rate.
People here are talking like the difference between US taxes and EU taxes is 20% or more, when in reality it’s maybe 5%
UPD: looked at the tax wedge, the US vs UK looks pretty similar to me- which supports my point. Germany looks a lot higher, but they have 100% free tuition and I am not familiar with the rest of the benefits germans get.
Also, lol at UK public transit. Horrifically expensive - probably more than a single digit % of total income if you actually have to commute anywhere on a regular basis.
The tax rate for my income bracket in the UK is 45%, and while federal income tax is 39.6% I still have to pay state and city taxes on top of that which works out to be about the same.
However I get free medical care in the UK, affordable college tuition (10x less than the US at least), maternity leave, great public transit, I could go on. What does the same amount of taxes paid get me in the US? I’m not complaining about having to pay taxes, but sure would be nice to get something back that isn’t military.