[FredPret]

You’re right about Vienna - it’s clean and wonderful.

Some governments do offer much better value for money than others.

But I think high taxes are a very risky bet on the idea that the government will stay competent long-term: bureaucracies are almost never cut down when they grow too large; thus taxes almost never come down significantly over the long term.

[jahnu]

That’s certainly a more nuanced take than “48% tax rate on income over well above median is wrong”.

I too prefer public policy debates that focus on competency and efficiency instead of a variable parameter that doesn’t capture much information.