I agree with what you are saying, but my effective tax rate this year in California was ~40%. All of the above benefits for an additional 20% sounds like a bargain.
The max personal tax rate is 47.2%, but that includes a 8.2% pension contribution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_rates
It's hard to directly compare though, since we have really high excise taxes/VAT, especially for things like cars.
But I believe your employer pays an amount equal to about 20% of your gross income as pension fund payments. I don't know if USA has similar "hidden" costs which makes direct comparison of grass salary difficult.
"making the total Social Security tax 12.4% of wages and the total Medicare tax 2.9%."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Insurance_Contributions...
You might get properly funded roads; that is if they don't squander it between the time they lie and promise to use it for that and when it comes time to do road repair.
I saw this old blog post recently, supporting your assertion: https://pedestrianobservations.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/us-r...
Basically, underground rail construction in US costs much more per kilometer than in other countries, and people in the comment section claim that the same holds true for other types of infrastructure construction, like bridges and highways.
If Germany's tax rate starts at 40% from 40,000 EUR and California from $200,000; those are not equivalent.
My marginal tax rate in the UK is 45% but I take home 75% of what I invoice.