[titzer]

In Germany, you'd be paying 42%. You'd get subways, a national rail system, universal healthcare, and college would be free. America doesn't have a "spending" problem, it has a history of mal-investment and neglect. But those F-35s. And nukes! Enough to wipe out most of humanity.

[cwhiz]

Not a spending problem.

Proceeds to list things that we spend and invest unnecessarily on.

We have a subway system in NYC. Run by the MTA. A bloated and incompetent organization that needs a billion dollars to extend a subway line a single mile, and will routinely spend hundreds of millions of dollars on unnecessary bridge painting and other shenanigans.

There’s a reason we don’t have nice things, and it’s not because our taxes are too low.

Edit: It is actually $3.5 billion for a mile.

[iso1631]

London's 2 mile northern line extension costs about $1.7b, so doesnt sound out of whack. Berlin did extend the U5 about 1.4 miles for $600m but it's the right order of magnitude.

[cwhiz]

I was wrong. The latest expansion was $3.5 billion per mile.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/nyregion/new-york-subway-...

[titzer]

A billion dollars a mile is because corruption.

[cwhiz]

Call it whatever you like. The MTA spends $17 billion per year.

And we get rickety subway service and piss stained stations that make you feel as if you’ve traveled in time back to the 80s.

How much does Germany spend per year on rail?

[titzer]

I don't know which city would be most comparable to New York, but Germany recently announced 120+ a billion dollar investment in upgrading rail infrastructure nationwide[1].

The high-speed rail connnection between Berlin and Munich cost 10 billion Euro. Even then, it was criticized for being over budget. It travels at 200km/h+ and is over 600km long. I think that project is completely infeasible in the US, at any price. It seems like a bargain to me.

Of course, high-speed long-haul lines are a different thing than subways. I lived in Munich for several years and I can say firsthand, subways are magical. As an American, it's embarrassing we cannot dig holes. It's not because money.

[1] https://canada.constructconnect.com/dcn/news/infrastructure/...

[cwhiz]

That’s $125 billion over a decade. Less per year than the MTA spends on a single city.

You said it’s not a spending problem, but it sure seems like a spending problem, no?

[titzer]

NY does not seem to be getting a good bang for its buck.

[dredmorbius]

NYC's nuclear deterrent is among the smaller in the world.

Taxes supporting the US arsenal are applied nationwide.

[dash2]

Those nukes, and associated military spending, prevented all of Germany becoming East Germany.

[prh21]

Person from Germany here. The 42% is the top rate so that on 100 k$ the effective rate would be less than that. Healthcare costs come on top of that. Free college is included.

[titzer]

45% is the top rate. 42% kicks in 57k income. 45% at 274k. You're right that the effective rate might be less for $100k, but not much. The curve is quite steep.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Germany#/media/Fil...

[titzer]

Also, VAT is high in Germany.

[iso1631]

Who pays vat? Less than 10% of my monthly outgoings are on VATTable things, and most of that expenditure is because I bought a new car rather than a second hand one.

[iso1631]

$100k is £72k, in the UK you'd be paying 30% (£22k). 36% if you're still paying off your student loan (which would be about 6 years to repay the fees and another 7 to repay the cost of living loans)

UK has nukes too

[csomar]

> But those F-35s. And nukes! Enough to wipe out most of humanity.

Doesn't these F-35 and nukes give the US trade advantage and wealth transfers (aka free money from unstable countries) and thus make it possible for Americans to be that rich?