We have lots of taxes. Income tax- where we as a family pay 25-45% of our earnings. We also have national insurance which is also a lot of money. This supposedly goes towards the NHS (national health service) but the truth is it all goes towards completely different things, like social security benefits and schools, as well as healthcare. We also pay a huge amount on fuel tax- probably close to $600 a month. We also have VAT of 20% on most things.
We have lots of taxes people call 'sin taxes' where the government claims they are taxing you because you are damaging the environment. So that includes driving cars, fuel for your car, airplane journeys, cigarettes, etc.
We also have to pay something like 40% tax on any bonuses we earn. Money you inherit from passed away relatives is also taxed a huge amount.
I would not want to add up how much my family pays overall in tax because it would make me feel sick lol.
I watched a programme the other day about how your tax money is spent. Turns out that someone earning what my family earns- pays in three times more than they get back in services, healthcare, etc. So for every $3000 we pay in, we only get $1000 worth of services back.
I don't think you could really work out how much tax we pay in gets spent on healthcare because it isn't a 'fair' system so to speak. A majority of the tax we pay goes towards other people's healthcare and services, and social security benefits.
The free healthcare works out GREAT for those who pay little or no tax, but for middle class families, it is a bit of a rip off. In addition the waits are absurd- when I had a kidney problem I had to wait four months just to get an appointment at hospital. I then needed to wait another three months to get another appointment to get medication to control my problem. So overall it took me 7 months- over half a year- to get the help I needed and went through agony in the meantime.
We are debating getting private healthcare insurance because you get seen in a matter of days or a week or two. The NHS drives me crazy. It is also in massive debt and keeps cutting back- making it even worse for patients. Two things make it even worse- a growing population of of obesity and also more people coming from eastern Europe, who are also entitled to it. There's just not enough money.
To the person that mentioned 50% tax- only the extremely well off pay that amount. Most people pay nowhere near to that amount.