Or go to Britain and get both
Same for Germany ¯\(ツ)/¯
Come to Cologne, where people are proud of the corruption and nepotism, affectionately called “Klüngel”, that directly turns their tax money into profit for some clever Jeck. For example via an opera house that was supposed to cost 250 million and is currently projected to cost about 1,5 billion.
Those cost increases are not unique to Cologne though. It starts with a cost estimate that’s way below a reasonable sum of money and that is highly unlikely to work out, but one that is politically feasible. Then (once planning and building is happening) costs increase and often enough, public sector decision makers are inept at damage control when unexpected things happen (which they do) and plans need to be reworked accordingly. Sunk cost fallacy is also real. Things then get out of hand and construction companies know that shit needs to get done at some point and there’s more money to be made once the child has fallen into the well.
You’re not gonna be able to start a 600 million euro project if you’re honest about it. You say it’ll be 250 million, get it greenlit, and go from there. It’s stupid, but that’s how it works everywhere. I’m not saying that there is no corruption involved, but I don’t think it’s the worst problem. Look at Stuttgart 21: It is now at least 5 years overdue and cost increased from 4.5 to 11 billion.
I know. What’s unique to Cologne is the fact that the people deciding the budget and the bosses of the construction companies share a table at some carnival events, drink some Kölsch and make some deals. And the people of Cologne enjoy this as part of their tradition. And once all the tax money is gone and the rest of the city collapsed (as long as it’s not the Dom) they’ll simply say “Et hätt noch immer jot jejange” and carry on as usual.
I’m actually wondering how much of this has to do with the climate, i.e. the physical weather patterns. something like: living in northern countries historically meant that you had a tougher time getting through the winter, because the winters are harsher and longer, so you need to store more food and make sure it doesn’t spoil, which requires extra planning. so as a historical consequence, northern countries end up with a higher degree of organization, including bigger states, more organized tax systems, overall more organized structures.
You can see many examples of this. all big empires historically have had their center on the northern hemisphere, including england, US, europe, USSR, china. there’s (almost) none on the south.
Politicians in Germany are corrupt as fuck tho.
It’s called lobbyism here, so it’s okay.
/s
The corruption is a lovely place to holiday in though
Until you realize your life is in fucking danger there. Nearly every summer, in Greece, we are dealing with wildfires.
Last year, there was a fire in Rhodes during September. People were jumping in the sea to same their life. The response of the government was to provide vouchers to tourists from foreign countries, so that they will visit again next year.
The government gave no shit to Greek people, and I don’t really think people from other countries dared to come again.
Besides the issues with emergency services, there are also pricing problems. I only know about Greece and Turkey. In tourist areas of those countries, all prices are inexcusably high.
This year a wildfire started in the center of fucking Athens.
Then it’s not wild, it’s urban.
Flatten that circle into Russia and you basically have the line between Butter Europe and Olive Oil Europe.
This site is genuinely moronic
Lol, imagine being so naive (or dense) you think these two things can exist without each other.
In Hungary, the effective tax rate is ~33%, we also have 27%(!) VAT, but hey, if you’re making the grandchildren of Fidesz voters work “real manly job”, you can get a 0% tax rate on your business.
we also have 27%(!) VAT
That’s wild
The rationale is to “punish not the work but the rich”, except the rich gets to skirt around VAT, by having at least one business. Also we literally have the tax system suggested by the Bell Curve authors, to “encourage high-IQ families to make children”.
Nice to see a sneak preview of my country in a year or two…
UK is in which zone … ?
Yes
I’d say Germany does not have high taxes IF YOU ARE RICH. Also Germany has lots oft corruption, in my opinion, most oft it is not seen by many people.
Thanks to American Exceptionalism we have both.
So do you have the president of the central bank steal a third of your yearly GDP while you get taxed 45% on your income, 32% on everything you buy, and also on random bullshit?
Amateurs.
Why not both?
Imagine thinking there is no corruption up there, or no taxes down there
People being fine with higher taxes is a function of a trustworthy system where tax money actually goes to spending that benefits the tax payer.
If the expectation is that the funds get misplaced/pocketed/diverted along the way your average citizen will be far more willing (and view it as far more morally justifiable) to make efforts to avoid/reduce paying taxes.
I feel you’re heavily underestimating the dreaded combo of public perception and complacency.
From what I’ve seen, there have been plenty of attempts for the traditionally corrupt governments to better themselves, but the populous blocking it by going “yeah, right”. Same thing with high trust goverments becoming more corrupt and people excusing it with “we have the good government!”
Ah, a distinction without a difference
My country has made it! We’re now taxes and not corruption! 🎉
Redditor trying new grounds…
As a matter of fact I used Reddit only to find Lemmy and that took less than two weeks. Never came back.
