Compare the cost of living in Berlin to even rust belt US cities and it's really not favorable to the US. If you want to include "healthcare premiums" in the calculation as a tax then the US pays more taxes per capita than most of the EU member states like France or Germany.

Not sure how you are measuring "inequality", but even in a backwater like Hungary you don't have adults rationing insulin made for pets.

Most metrics disagree with you. The US is on average cheaper to live in compared to the average revenue. That can be seen in average household debt too, as those are pretty high in Europe.