[acdha]

> They have healthcare as well, you know, they just pay it from their paycheck and it isn't deducted from their salary.

This usually cancels out the lower tax rates, and it has some key drawbacks: if anything interferes with your ability to stay employed, you lose coverage completely and have to hope that you’ll eventually qualify for public assistance, which can take quite a long time and will likely force you to find new providers, potentially with substantial travel requirements. The costs are 2-3 times higher, too, and medical expenses are a leading cause of bankruptcy.

[constantcrying]

>This usually cancels out the lower tax rates

Directly contradicts "The costs are 2-3 times higher". Especially not since a software dev makes significantly more money.

[acdha]

No. These aren’t measuring the same thing: the higher costs in the United States means that you cannot buy private plans which are as efficient as the national plans because you are also paying for the overhead of various providers and middlemen which only exist in one of these models, and you have limited ability to negotiate better prices or even visibility.

Software developers make somewhat more money but not enough so for this not to be a concern. If you’re getting hundreds of thousands of dollars more, of course, it’s a net win but if you’re not seeing such a stark difference it’s more debatable. If you’re not at the higher FAANG-tier level, costs for things like health and child care can close the gap considerably, especially if you or your family have less than perfect health and so the US option involves an unpaid second job haggling with insurance companies about coverage.