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Comment by ido | Hacker News Reader

Total income-related taxes+health insurance in California are IIRC similar or higher than Germany. Also in either case the taxes on $100k/year are way less than 50%.

EDIT from what I can tell from very quick googling total taxes on $100k in California would be ~29% (not including health insurance) where as in Germany they would be ~34% (on $100k = ~€92k, including health insurance).

So I guess whatever's better in that example depends on if you think German health insurance is worth 5% of your income. Your $500/m amount to 6% of income so similar to Germany either way.

Keep in mind this is for single & childless, and Germany has outrageously generous tax breaks for having children as well as being married when one spouse earns a lot less than the other.

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My number for Germany comes from https://www.brutto-netto-rechner.info/gehalt/gross_net_calcu... & includes Solidaritätszuschlag & health insurance.

But it depends on state and stuff like church taxes (optional, you can declare being atheist & pay none) plus other things like marital status, tax classes, which public health insurance you choose, etc.

And the end of the day you pay similar taxes on income in Germany as you do in a high-tax US states like California.

I get different numbers from here: http://www.parmentier.de/steuer/steuer.htm?wagetax.htm

On 92,000 Euro I get 45% total. In California it’s 30%. Moreover, if you’re making $100,000, you’re almost certainly getting health insurance as part of the salary in California, so you don’t need to add the cost of health insurance on top of that.

Ah, I think I see the difference - for singles (class I) it gives you 43%, I mistakenly chose the married category (class III, in my mind that was the "default" tax class - probably cause that's how I have always filed in Germany), in which case the rate is 33%.

After taxes, health care and Solidaritätszuschlag, your taxrate for 100k ist closer to 42% in Germany

Not sure what you put in to get that number (keep in mind that $100k is roughly €92k) but there are many possible variables that can change your tax rate. In my personal case it is significantly lower than the number I posted above.

I used mostly default values in the first online calculators I found for both California & Germany in the example in my original post.

Just from personal experience: 42% is pretty much on the dot. It might be that with 92k you're still taxed in a lower class (or maybe you're married and thus getting a discount).

Yes, I chose the wrong tax class by mistake.

My personal tax rate is even lower than that as we have 2 kids & my wife and I file together (both self employed so we add up our incomes and file with all tax bracket at double the threshold). I think we ended up paying just over 15% off the top of my head but don't quote me on that (I earn less than €92k but still enough to have a very comfortable life).

I knew you pay more as a single/childless person but I didn't realize just how much more - which makes it all the more surprising that Germans have such a low rate of both marriage and reproduction.

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