He told me that his life and business would be much better if he did not have to pay up to 50% taxes on all his income! He said he could hire more employees, have a larger and better home for his family if they wanted it, but he could not because he had to give the German government 50% taxes on his income to support social programs. He hated socialized medicine. Sit home on your butt and get free medical care. Even back then, he told me that getting in to see a specialize doctor took weeks or months to do.
>> if he did not have to pay up to 50% taxes on all his income!
You seem surprised. Between fica, medicare, federal, state, property tax, sales tax, phone tax, gas tax, etc, I pay 40% to 50% of my income in taxes. If I include my state ordered alimony and child support ( a whole other issue ), 5/8's of everything I make is stolen from me by the government. Now are you surprised?
The "Free" medical care in Germany costs 15.9% of their gross pay, matched by their employer. (not a premium)
Their Social security contributions are 19.8%, again employer matching.
Home healthcare is 1%, etc, etc.
Now you get to pay a myriad in Taxes like income (higher than ours) Ecology, Vat, 16% of all purchases and rising.
I have not seen a free lunch in a while.
By the way, their systems are broke.