Leodis wrote:
We do? How come it's cheaper for me to get on a ferry at Dover, visit Mammouth at Cite Europe and stock up on beer, ****, petrol, cheese, etc. even including the ferry ticket?
Because the UK, along with Scandinavia, is one of the most expensive places in Europe. It's true that cigarettes and petrol are taxed heavily here, but booze isn't especially.
Wages are lower in most of the EU, and so are prices. But they pay more tax comparatively.
There are usually 3 bands of taxation, depending on your wage: lower, middle and higher.
In the UK, it's basically 0% for lower, 20% for middle, and 40% for higher.
In Germany, it's 0%, 42% and 45% respectively.
Italy is 23%, 33% and 42%.
Here's a sample of the income tax for some European countries. It's even worse if you measure capital gains, inheritence, property, etc...