Walter,

>This is exactly the error you make, the Tax myth. Yes, we pay a lot of taxes *if* we earn a lot.
As more things are taxed especially, I guess that even those not already subsidized others pay more taxes (VAT, Oil/Energy taxes, destilled alcohol, tobacco, salt, champagne, wine...). Where comes that money from ? Taxes are a way of legalized extortion IMNSHO.

>Gas prices are much higher than in the US, but if you look at the percentage it rose last year (15%), it is not as high as in the US.

Come on, that "measure" only means that the taxes did not rise as much as the oil price. Kinda telling a girl raped three times this year and twice last year that she is better off than the one raped twice this year and once last year, as the percentage of the rise was less...

> Poor people arround here are doing much and much better than poor people in the US.
They are not actively "doing", they get a bigger share of extorted money for keeping quite and doing nothing. One of the first things asked for by politicians in the last few weeks are special energy tarifs for the poor - setting room temperature to less than 22 degrees C (which is one example of too many rules over here) will keep the energy cost low.

While the US system has quite a few warts, the systems here do as well. I was astonished at the base level "favors" can be bought in the US (at least as documented by court room reporting), but here we have our scandals and government bungling as well. Just look at the twisting the "no" from the irish forced the other governments into: the vote of a population is said to be null and void (as most of the other nations fatefied the treaty after cutting the population out of the voting process)... Ludicrous.

regards

thomas