[samatman]

Why are European goods so enormously expensive compared to US ones?

VAT. The answer is VAT.

[waihtis]

I find absolute US and EU (FIN) prices to be quite on par in categories like groceries, restaurant, alcohol etc.

Of course US has something like triple salary in tech at least, making their purchase power generally much better.

[kergonath]

VAT ranges from 0 to 20%. It is significant, but not enormous.