Comment by seanalltogether | Hacker News Reader

Comment by seanalltogether | Hacker News Reader

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seanalltogether

Since moving to the UK I've wanted to do a breakdown of taxes I paid in Colorado vs UK. Even though taxes are higher here and VAT is 20% I'm still convinced I have more income at the end of the year then I would in CO.

Some things I've noticed -

    I surrendered a good chunk of my paycheck to health insurance in the states that's already folded into income tax in UK

    Car insurance in UK is much cheaper because it only needs to cover damage to the car instead of hospital bills

    Council tax (property tax) is significantly cheaper here. For instance, a £1,000,000 home in manchester might pay £2200-£2700 per year in council tax, while a $1,000,000 home in my old neighborhood in Denver is paying $6000 per year

    Gasoline is more expensive here, but driving distances are not as high so I think that washes out even

    Fruit, vegetables and meat is definitely cheaper here then anywhere in CO

    Internet, cable, and phone plans are significantly cheaper here

> Car insurance in UK is much cheaper because it only needs to cover damage to the car instead of hospital bills

UK car insurance includes medical cover! It's just not usually called on quite so much and it's cheaper if it is. At one point there was a lot of fraudulent whiplash claims. Maybe the US has a medical expenses insurance fraud problem?

> Council tax (property tax) is significantly cheaper here.

Council tax is a really bizarre system that is only loosely linked to property, and the UK would benefit from introducing proper US style property taxation.

> Fruit, vegetables and meat is definitely cheaper here then anywhere in CO

One of those things that we UKans don't appreciate - food is both cheap and pretty good compared to lots of Europe and especially the much praised Scandinavia. Whereas the US is the land of cheap and plentiful processed food.

> Internet, cable, and phone plans are significantly cheaper here

The UK has a working if slightly artificial market here, where the US basically doesn't have competition.

“ Maybe the US has a medical expenses insurance fraud problem?”

It has a medical expenses problem! ER visits are thousands of dollars even if nothing is wrong! There is a reason coverage is expensive — if it’s ever used, the costs are catastrophic

This is a bit cheating, as CO is significantly more expensive than other roughly equal areas. Something about the altitude magically makes everything more expensive. My mother's car insurance tripled moving to CO, despite the car being paid off and no accidents on record.

I wasn't expecting CO to come up more expensive, thanks for sharing!

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