404, I didn't say that you'd suggested Australia wasn't a good place to live; but I still contend that it is the BEST place to live, in spite of an unfriendly taxation system, supporting the bludgers in society, inadequate penalties for crime, etc., etc.
There are ways to minimize what you give Mr Carmody, but you will always pay some tax.
Comparing a vast, sparsely populated country like Australia with almost anywhere else will never be a valid comparison. The cost of infrastructure for low population centres, connecting those centres, etc., is huge compared with somewhere like Hong Kong, or Japan, or anywhere else.
Japan has a maximum (for most) tax rate of 20% I believe, but it has 125 million people in a country just marginally bigger than New Zealand, BUT only about 20% of the country is developed because it is so mountainous.
The cost of roads, services, etc., in a country like that will always be way less than Australia. I'm not making excuses for the taxation rates, but if you want services and want to liv e here, then taxes are inevitable.
Live somewhere like Vanuatu where there are no direct taxes, but no services either; roads are $hit, much is unsewered, septics rule, contaminating the groundwater, and I could go on and on.
I still contend that in spite of its shortcomings, I would live nowhere else, particularly in retirement, where if you blow everything on the nags or flea bags, then there is a safety net. I hope I'll never need it, but it's there if I do.
