Comparing taxes across different states is next to impossible. There are so many variations and permutations that any such comparison becomes irrelevant.
Just some basic things to think about.
USA income tax rates seem low to most in Europe. (Not as low as many might imagine). But most in Europe don’t pay anything like the healthcare costs that you need to pay in the USA. Most in Europe have access to very good free Education. Also for many in Europe property taxes are just a non-issue and US property taxes would seem outrageous. But of course with a higher net take home pay in the US, it looks far more reasonable.
If you leave the USA, you still are expected to pay income tax (over an earnings limit) to the USA. This is very unusual in Europe.
Capital taxes change dramatically.
USA has federal sales taxes plus state sales taxes, which are usually in addition to the purchase price. In Europe there usually is one sales tax (VAT) and the price of the goods are inclusive of it.
Corporation taxes vary dramatically too, but not just the headline rates, but the figure you calculate that tax on varies dramatically.
So I don’t think there can really be a good comparison across states with very different systems.
But I will say this much. I’d be really surprised if someone earning the equivalent of $250-$300K would be spending all of it on items attracting VAT. Most people earning that sort of money would be making additional investments (no VAT) or paying into pension funds (no VAT). For most people, no matter what they earn, their biggest outgoing is usually their home mortgage. Unless you buy brand new, that won’t involve any VAT.
Of course you will have individuals who earn €500K, buy a brand new home (VAT) and don’t invest anything and spend it all on fast cars, fancy hotels and big parties all attracting VAT. But they are the exception.
I believe the usual way of doing this is to total up the entire tax take from a country and divide that by the total earnings of its population to get a headline rate which is often around 90%. But that covers up more than it illuminates.
Snoopy wrote:
So now refugees are responsible for the problems in GA, „interesting“ causality you imply there.
That is a distortion of what I expressed. Of course, refugees are not responsible for our problems.
However, masses of new inhabitants contribute to overpopulation in our small area, here Germany or Switzerland. This negative development may also have an impact on us in terms of restrictions.
dublinpilot wrote:
USA has federal sales taxes plus state sales taxes, which are usually in addition to the purchase price. In Europe there usually is one sales tax (VAT) and the price of the goods are inclusive of it.
The US has no Federal sale tax. State sales taxes vary from 0% to a little under 10% and are with few exceptions not payable on labor or services, only material.
Silvaire wrote:
Sweden apparently has 30% flat capital gains tax, up to 0.3% annual property tax on residential housing value, 25% VAT, 22% tax on sale of a residential property. Are those numbers in error?
Well, they are very incomplete… The capital gains tax is indeed 30%, but you do not always pay tax on the full capital gain. The annual property tax on residential housing is higher than 0.3%, but given that there is a cap of SEK 8000/year, 0.3% could well be the average effective property tax rate. VAT is 25%, which means that 20% of the sales price is VAT. The 22% tax on sale of residential property is not based on the sales price but on how much the property has increased in value since you bought it.
Snoopy wrote:
GA could experience a huge boost if an effort was made to include/invite women to get a PPL.
Oh puleeze, @Snoopy, cut the woke BS. Men and women have of course the same rights, but we’re not the same. Ever been pregnant ?
As for aviation: go to any ATO in the L.A. area and you’ll find load of young women learning to fly, working as CFIs, etc. Most of them, though, want to be career pilots.
Where I agree with you is that The single greatest problem of GA is that it’s such a marginal activity. It always was and will be a niche hobby and/or profession.
Silvaire wrote:
I forgot that one in the U.K. it used to be that 70 to 80% of what you paid per liter went to the government, not sure how that may have changed over time.
Probably still about that ballpark. Same situation with alcoholic drinks sold in pubs – you pay duty on the alcohol and then VAT on the whole lot, so again tax on tax.
Silvaire wrote:
In many US states you pay sales tax on a used vehicle purchase on which the previous owners also paid sales tax with their purchase.
Even on a private purchase? Does that mean you have to register the purchase price somewhere so as to pay the tax? We have no VAT on a private purchase, but on a used car purchase from a dealer VAT is payable only on the dealer’s margin, which it is up to the dealer to declare to HMRC so amount of VAT is never visible to the customer but must be 20% of something.
LA/California is decades „ahead“ my friend… and GA in the US is incomparable to Europe.
These are small details though.
20% more or less money won’t make a difference to GA activity. You can either afford it reasonably comfortably (at the level at which you can enjoy it) or you can’t and then you will constantly struggle.
Look at other hobbies. How much does it cost to windsurf, water-ski, mountain-bike, snow-ski? The last one can easily cost as much as doing a fair bit of GA flying unless you live close to the slopes.
I’ve been watching GA for 20 years and it is pretty clear that the way the scene has gone is not obviously related to whether somebody earns 20% more or 20% less. With some exceptions e.g. the Spanish EU-€-funded boom drove a lot of new GA activity, only to collapse when the money ran out. The activity is really driven by how much return (fun) people get for their effort (time and money). And we have discussed this many times…
GA is a whole pile of hassle. It starts with the hassle of doing a PPL in a typical not well organised school (which is probably permanently on the edge – example) and in typical European wx (lots of cancelled lessons). Then you have the hassle of learning techniques which everybody with the brainpower to “conquer” flying will immediately see as stupid (the circular slide rule, and all the pompous types who tell you, “young man”, how wonderful it is). 9 exams which are mostly crap. Then when you finally get your PPL you end up renting wreckage which you are grateful makes it from Blackbushe to Sandown (80nm?). Then at Sandown you meet a load of people who think the £3 all day beakfast with 100000 calories is fantastic – eating it while wearing their yellow jackets 
Conversations can be executed largely in TLAs (three letter acronyms), and entirely so if IFR.
Only the select few manage to drag themselves out of this scene, buying their own plane (or maybe find a rare well functioning group) and go to places which have real value as destinations. Destinations, not airports.
And we wonder why not many women are in there They are way too smart, and they are social creatures, not into discussing constant speed propellers. But actually the vast majority of men who could be in GA (have time, money, brainpower) aren’t, and for similar reasons.
Graham wrote:
Even on a private purchase? Does that mean you have to register the purchase price somewhere so as to pay the tax?
Yep, you self-declare the price when registering the car, plane or motorcycle in your name, with no proof required. For road vehicles, the state does try to obtain the sales price from previous in-state owner (when applicable) if he notifies them of the sale via a form submitted by mail. Otherwise they know the game and take what they can get… In my area the total cost of reregistration for a car ends up being 10% of the price paid, by rule of thumb. If you get too crazy with a low declared price they’ll come after you but I don’t believe I’ve actually seen it happen to anybody I know. I usually declare book wholesale value, and if you happen to like buying mint condition 20 year old vehicles nobody has ever heard of it from out of state private parties, it can be an advantage. Arizona is a great place to source any vehicle, for a myriad of reasons including zero corrosion.
When buying a plane in the US, the tradition used to be to declare a sales price of “$1 plus other valuable consideration (OVC)” to FAA on the bill of sale, FAA doesn’t collect and doesn’t care what you declare. Then, having audited the FAA record, the state sends an enquiry to the seller, who throws it in the trash with no obligation to answer. Then they come to the buyer and so it goes. Entertainment for some
I declared $1 plus OVC on my last plane purchase, not to avoid sales tax but as a favor to the (woman) seller who kept her plane as part of a divorce settlement and didn’t want the price publicly recorded. When her ex-husband tracked me down and sent me emails in 50 font demanding to know the sales price I told him “one dollar plus other valuable consideration, just like the bill of sale indicates” Hopefully that had the desired effect on his mood, he was a complete a-hole 
highflyer wrote:
However, masses of new inhabitants contribute to overpopulation in our small area, here Germany or Switzerland. This negative development may also have an impact on us in terms of restrictions.
How many new inhabitants do we have in Germany or Switzerland on a net basis in %-growth rates over the past 5yr and e.g. 10yr history?
