[kelnos]

And yet people somehow still manage to live happy, financially-secure lives in Sweden. There's a lot more to consider about livability than just "what would my tax burden look like?"

I would much rather pay more to a Sweden-/Europe-style system and feel like I was actually getting something for my taxes, vs. the current state in the US where I only feel like a small fraction of my tax bill actually goes toward expenditures I think are reasonable. And to top it off, this year my tax bill is going to an administration that actively hurts people I care about with its policies. Gross.

[BoorishBears]

Geeze, no one is saying all there is to quality of life is a tax burden, and no one was talking about the Trump administration or how the government spends its tax. I don't support his administration but the whole dragging the Trump administration into everything on HN is getting old (taxes in the US have been messy for a while now)

I'm saying I in my current living situation feel I benefit from a lower tax burden and higher base salary more than ease of filing taxes would. In a few years that might not even hold true, and me benefiting more from the former doesn't mean I'm against the latter, they're tangential issues that happen to have a correlation in the US vs much of Europe (but obviously lack causation)

And to your point about reasonable expenditures, simpler tax structure won't suddenly change how the US government would spend money...