[aplummer]

Yes I’m Australian -

I don’t think people are fleeing given the net emigration from the US, and the high cost of living in Sydney is actually my point exactly -

It’s not Sydney’s “progressiveness” that makes it expensive, you could live in Melbourne or Hobart where the tax is the same and it’s much less expensive, both more progressive. Three identical sets of benefits and taxes, wildly different cost of living.

My point was that it’s not progressiveness that makes places too expensive, it’s other factors.