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0 pointsrunako4mo ago0 comments

The data on UBI isn't out there, but it is notable that countries with similar tax rates to the US manage to have universal healthcare and more expansive safety nets. Some examples: New Zealand (tax rate ~30% less than the US), Korea, Switzerland, Australia, UK, Japan, Netherlands, Norway.

Americans really should be asking why we're paying a significantly higher tax burden than New Zealand and not getting similar services as part of the bargain.

Put another way: the US is incredibly rich compared to other countries. Our poorest states have higher GDP per capita than most rich countries. And our taxes are not particularly low. Our social issues are 100% about how we choose to allocate our shared resources. The good thing is we can always choose to make different choices.

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bluecalm4mo ago

Switzerland has mandatory healthcare insurance and subsidies for low income earners. The insurance is provided by private companies. It's not really universal healthcare system like in most EU countries.

Private insurance can work out fine if regulated well. In USA you have regulatory capture that makes services expensive. Impossible barriers to entry coupled with terrible regulation on price transparency and a lot of cartel like behavior.

runakoOP4mo ago

I included the Swiss example exactly for this reason, to show that it's not 100% about the delivery model.

Aloisius4mo ago

New Zealand effective taxes rates are generally higher than the US, not lower unless you're doing something odd like comparing based on average local wage.

Switzerland, the Netherlands and Japan all use the Bismark model (contributions for insurance), so taxes don't really reflect the cost of universal healthcare.

The issue in the US is not an allocation problem. The average person in the US already pays more in taxes that are spent on healthcare than in any other country. We're just so inefficient with our spending that we only manage to cover a fraction of our population with it.

runakoOP4mo ago

> New Zealand effective taxes rates are generally higher than the US

US tax rates are complex due to local variance and other factors. Tax rate on the median NZ income appears to be ~30%. Tax on median US is lower, but state taxes can add significantly. There is not a neat divide between red states & blue states here; Alabama & Georgia have state income taxes, for example.

> The average person in the US already pays more in taxes that are spent on healthcare than in any other country.

And that's before the health insurance premiums!

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0 pointsrunako4mo ago0 comments

Americans really should be asking why we're paying a significantly higher tax burden than New Zealand and not getting similar services as part of the bargain.

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bluecalm4mo ago

runakoOP4mo ago

I included the Swiss example exactly for this reason, to show that it's not 100% about the delivery model.

Aloisius4mo ago

New Zealand effective taxes rates are generally higher than the US, not lower unless you're doing something odd like comparing based on average local wage.

Switzerland, the Netherlands and Japan all use the Bismark model (contributions for insurance), so taxes don't really reflect the cost of universal healthcare.

runakoOP4mo ago

> New Zealand effective taxes rates are generally higher than the US

> The average person in the US already pays more in taxes that are spent on healthcare than in any other country.

And that's before the health insurance premiums!

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse