(Bay Area rather than NYC though.)
Our au pair from Germany paid the same total tax rate on her entry level, non-university required office job back home as we paid on a mid six figure income in Maryland. That’s what makes their system work.
That's far from true. If we talk about percentage of income, the lower and middle classes subsidise everyone else. There are many legal ways to avoid (not evade, which is illegal) taxes if you have enough upfront capital and that is practiced by every big company and upper-class household regardless of location. There are also lots of ways through corruption, lobbying and under-the-table payments or other favours to unjustly enrich oneself at the expense of the taxpayer if you have the right connections.
European countries still "work" but that's more due to inertia and the system is starting to break down; the pandemic accelerated it and we're starting to see the first systemic failures such as the UK (well not technically Europe anymore, but the stage has been set long ago when they were still in the EU).
Short of a few outliers such as some Nordic countries that appear to have figured it out (at least for now), everyone else is in the same boat. Europe just enjoys more inertia but it's just a matter of time.
No. The top 1% pays a greater share of total taxes (state, local, and federal) than it’s share of total income: https://itep.org/who-pays-taxes-in-america-in-2019/
> Short of a few outliers such as some Nordic countries that appear to have figured it out (at least for now), everyone else is in the same boat.
Ironically, the Nordic countries shift more of the overall tax burden to the middle class than the US: https://taxfoundation.org/publications/how-scandinavian-coun...
In Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, the top tax rates kick in at just 1.3-1.6x the median income. They all rely heavily on VAT, which is regressive. All have low corporate tax rates, and apart from Denmark, they also have competitive capital gains tax rates.