> Higher taxes + social safety net make more sense for lower income people. Higher income people can buy themselves a safety net.
It also makes sense for richer people if the living conditions are better because people poorer than you have a safety net so you aren't impacted by their social problems, or if, e.g., universal government benefits like healthcare end up being better value than what is privately available elsewhere, perhaps because of economies of scale, or because you are effectively a co-owner of a monopsony purchaser, or because the safety net for the poorer people supplying the service means total labor costs can be less without them living in unacceptable security.
> because people poorer than you have a safety net so you aren't impacted by their social problems
Well, you are impacted in that your taxes are higher.
I'm not saying that is a bad thing, btw, just wanted to point out that the social safety net isn't really a major consideration for wealthy people. Heck, my wife is Canadian and we considered moving to Canada a while ago—and we aren't even wealthy, just middle to upper middle class—but the math just didn't make sense. Much lower salaries, much higher taxes, plus insane real estate market. It was a much better deal to say in the U.S. and buy our own safety net.
It also makes sense for richer people if the living conditions are better because people poorer than you have a safety net so you aren't impacted by their social problems, or if, e.g., universal government benefits like healthcare end up being better value than what is privately available elsewhere, perhaps because of economies of scale, or because you are effectively a co-owner of a monopsony purchaser, or because the safety net for the poorer people supplying the service means total labor costs can be less without them living in unacceptable security.