US taxes are far too high for the benefits we actually receive. At my last job, a coworker who worked for our parent company in France stated they pay 45% total in taxes. I was thinking, hell, that's insane, until I figured here, people in his income range pay 28%-31% federal tax, social security, state income tax (for us at least), disability, etc. It came out over 45% and for that we don't get crap.
He gets a minimum of 4 weeks vacation a year, something like 15 national holidays, free health care, and the best of all, if he got laid off, they have to pay 3 years severance. And that's the law. It's not at the discretion of the employer. In reality, the 3 years severance thing is to entice French companies not to lay off people in France. So, when it was time to cut, they made the cuts in the US where we only get one month severance.
My point is we may not pay as much federal income tax, but when you look at the whole, it turns out we do pay close to what Europeans pay and receive far less benefits for it.
Socialism is alive and well in the US and it is expanding.