You never really OWN a property in the US. There never comes a day when you don't have to make government payments on that property anymore. If you don't pony up every year they will seize it for payment. It's like renting but you can have a dog [licensed] and paint the bedroom purple; unless you bought in an HOA then you can't do that either.
Renting has other advantages, if the neighbors become shit and you hate the place, with 30 days notice you can pack up and go somewhere else, you're not stuck with the financial burden of a house with bad neighbors.
Believe me, even if you live out in the country there are bad neighbors. And if they too own their property they are probably never leaving, and they will piss you off for the next 30 years.
Surprisingly, here in soviet Europe the first 1500 m2 of a primary residence is tax free. The overall tax burden is over 50% for anyone making a decent wage though so it balances out.
Income tax ~20%
Social security ~15%
Employer tax ~10%
VAT ~20%
Various regulatory taxes, luxury taxes, alcohol tax, health taxes, environmental taxes, gas taxes, etc. add up to at least another 10%
Then some countries have a wealth tax too, there's inheritance tax, property tax, separate road taxes, public broadcasting taxes, private health insurance which in essence is an added tax of social security to turn your worthless universal healthcare into something that's actually usable, import taxes, special taxes to protect national production, then you have to pay for using highways. That's just from the top of my head.
Effective tax burden closer to 80%-90%
Then add another 20%-30% capital gains taxes on whatever is left over for you to invest.
You never really OWN a property in the US. There never comes a day when you don't have to make government payments on that property anymore. If you don't pony up every year they will seize it for payment. It's like renting but you can have a dog [licensed] and paint the bedroom purple; unless you bought in an HOA then you can't do that either.
Renting has other advantages, if the neighbors become shit and you hate the place, with 30 days notice you can pack up and go somewhere else, you're not stuck with the financial burden of a house with bad neighbors.
Believe me, even if you live out in the country there are bad neighbors. And if they too own their property they are probably never leaving, and they will piss you off for the next 30 years.
Surprisingly, here in soviet Europe the first 1500 m2 of a primary residence is tax free. The overall tax burden is over 50% for anyone making a decent wage though so it balances out.
Income tax ~20%
Social security ~15%
Employer tax ~10%
VAT ~20%
Various regulatory taxes, luxury taxes, alcohol tax, health taxes, environmental taxes, gas taxes, etc. add up to at least another 10%
Then some countries have a wealth tax too, there's inheritance tax, property tax, separate road taxes, public broadcasting taxes, private health insurance which in essence is an added tax of social security to turn your worthless universal healthcare into something that's actually usable, import taxes, special taxes to protect national production, then you have to pay for using highways. That's just from the top of my head.
Effective tax burden closer to 80%-90%
Then add another 20%-30% capital gains taxes on whatever is left over for you to invest.
In the Netherlands they add the VAT on top of some of the other taxes, so you pay taxes over your taxes. Yo dawg.