Oh US and your complaining about taxes. "You leave with ONLY 65% of your income after paying taxes". In Denmark you pay 60% in taxes, so you leave with 40% of your income in your pocket. And petrol is now more than $10/US gallon.
I'm less annoyed by the level of taxation in California than the fact that, despite paying it, the money doesn't suffice to buy you health care, higher education, or good transit. If those were different I'd be happy to pay 50% more! (Also, you don't really pay an effective 60% tax in Denmark unless you make quite a lot of money. I make a decent professional salary and paid <40% overall.)
But as long as the states with high taxation are poster children for governmental dysfunction, there will be a palpable opposition to taxation. And that's why people who live in states like Texas (where there is no income tax, personal or business) enjoy having a small government so much.
http://heartland.org/sites/default/files/03-02-12_drenner-le... (PDF)
The problem with Texas is that the growing Hispanic population is going to lead to it turning into another California in the next 10 to 15 years. It'll turn blue and the taxes will skyrocket.
The western European model seems great if you want a life safely doing what has always been done.
There is also a ton of arts funding, much larger than in the U.S. on a per-capita basis, to the extent that it bleeds over into funding tech companies too. For example, Playdead (makers of Limbo) got their initial ~$150k in funding from the Danish Film Institute, and I know two founders with seed funding from the Nordic Game Program.
And the American model seems great if you're part of the small percentage who are not merely differently but excellently different. Further problem: if everyone's special, no-one is.
The taxes are still high (any claims that the US is low tax are inherently just BS spouted by people who don't understand taxes) but you get nothing in return. That's the problem.