It upsets me that this is the highest comment below my post because you completely missed my point.

I specifically said that I prefer the Dutch way in general, and that I don't mind paying higher taxes to support this. Hell, I live here, I hold a Dutch passport, and I vote for the related causes.

However, what I hate is certain aspects of the regulatory environment that choke out startups. That has nothing to do with healthcare or education but rather to do with very restrictive EU + Dutch laws.

Making it difficult to start a business makes the incumbents more powerful, and the incumbents already have high prices and limited selection here in the Netherlands.

[partially copied from a comment of mine below]

Starting a company here in the Netherlands is quite difficult. It involves compliance with every law related to your business, hiring employees, purchasing services for the business, etc etc. All of these things are more onerous, expensive and difficult here.

I've been involved with many startups on both sides of the ocean. In America (for better or worse) you get up and go. In Europe, simple things like creating a contract and paying someone are way more difficult and the barriers are much higher. Everything from the address you register your business at to protecting yourself legally is an issue.

It's difficult to explain exactly how debilitating the regulatory environment is to someone who hasn't experienced it firsthand. Startups are fragile. Many companies that are now unicorns were at some point on the brink of collapse for a good bit of their early life. Just one trigger can kill a startup, and additional regulations can be that trigger.

Sure, there are other things crippling innovation in Europe: a total lack of venture capital and fewer "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" play a big part.

Setting up a business also involves compliance with every law related to your business, hiring employees, purchasing services for the business, etc etc. All of these things are more onerous, expensive and difficult here.

I've been involved with many startups on both sides of the ocean. In America (for better or worse) you get up and go. In Europe, simple things like creating a contract and paying someone are way more difficult and the barriers are much higher. Everything from the address you register your business at to protecting yourself legally is an issue.

I just checked and it appears Ibuprofen/Paracetamol are roughly 1 cent per pill in reasonable quantities for both sides of the pond. My quick Googling showed Amazon had them for slightly cheaper than British supermarkets in fact. After checking Walmart vs British supermarkets for decent quality cheese (and I'm fairly selective about my cheddar) I found the prices to be roughly equivalent. Prices for edible cheddar are far higher here in the Netherlands, by the way.

I'll give you aerosol deodorant, but I think that comes down to a preference for stick deodorant in America - which costs approximately as much as British aerosol deodorant.

That's one product; I named ten, and I can provide plenty more. The fundamental problem of not having access to many products for a reasonable price is a big one, and unfortunately I think Europeans just accept it.

Look, I'm pro EU, and I'm not protesting the taxes we pay in the Netherlands. I think they go to a good cause, and I don't think high taxes make it impossible to start a business. But onerous regulations do. Shit like this just adds to the pile of things that a startup has to deal with, and eventually it's too much.

I'm not saying that higher regulations are just a Dutch issue, by the way. I think it's a general European issue. I just picked the Netherlands because I live here and have personal experience with startups here (as well as in Germany.)

I generally like the GDPR, but many details of it were moronic. I've visited hundreds of sites where you have to individually deselect each of hundreds of trackers. Is that legal? Nobody knows! The GDPR is a nightmare for startups: you've got tens of contradictory blog posts from legal experts saying different things, 28 individual country regulators involved... Even if your startup is very privacy-friendly, you still (probably - nobody knows for sure!) have to put up one of those ugly big GDPR-walls to every EU visitor, which messes up your user experience and turns people away.

Bengay was one small example which I picked because it was the first off my head. Assuming that a Dutch import business bought it from the shelves of Walmart for the normal price, sales tax and all, they would have to be somehow paying €260 per kilogram for shipping for the price to be what it is; shipping, or taxes, can in no way come close to explaining the price being five and a half times higher.

There are several methyl salicylate products available in the Netherlands, but they all are available for a similar i.e. extortionate price.

In a country with easier to navigate laws, you can start an import business and sell the products locally. Sure, there is a price increase due to VAT, shipping, handling and business expenses, but this is typically reasonable. For an example of a low-volume perishable food product, I'll take stroopwafels. Here in the Netherlands, where they are made, a 200 gram bag costs between €1.50 and €2.40 depending on the brand. In America, the same 200g bag costs €2.40 at Trader Joes (which is $2.79.)

That's between a 0-60% price increase - and that's for a perishable, low-volume, inexpensive food product sold in a luxury grocery store.