Warp wrote:
>   There are other things which you should consider more seriously.

I don't need to consider subtleties after *that* show-stopper. ;-)

> For instance, you might not need to fill tax forms ever, but OTOH you'll
> be paying quite a lot *more* taxes than in the US.

I expected that, yes.

>   And do you even know how much gasoline/diesel costs here? An American
> would drop his jaw into the ground if he saw it. Translated to the US
> units, gasoline is about 9.5 dollars/gallon, and diesel is 8.3.

But you have good public transit, yes?  When I've been on vacation in 
Europe for weeks at a time, I never rent a car.  In the USA, it's really 
difficult to live most places without a car, except maybe in the middle 
of a big city.

>   Oh, and cars cost almost double what they cost, for example, in Germany
> because of all the taxes. (In Germany, IIRC, a tax of 16% is put on the
> price of sold cars, while in Finland it's something like 96%.)

That's high. Here it's usually closer to 30% all told on a car.

>   Not only that, you have to pay mandatory annual car insurance (good
> thing, I suppose) as well as a mandatory annual car tax (you receive
> nothing in return, it's a *pure* tax for simply *owning* a car, without
> any benefits).

Same here. Well, I mean, the taxes go towards upkeep of the roads and 
such, but it's not like you directly see the money come back to your 
pocket. California car taxes are exceptionally high because we're so 
"progressive" here. :-)

Heck, you have to pay $100/year if you send in the form that says "I own 
the car, but I'm not going to drive it at all."  And if you change your 
mind and you *do* drive it, you wind up with a huge penalty/interest/etc.

You have to pay $10/month to the water company if you don't want them to 
run pipes to your house because you have (say) a well on your farm or 
something. Never quite understood that one.

>   Own a TV (or, for that matter, any device capable of decoding TV
> signal)? Tax.

Not quite that here, no. But you pay to receive the signal at all in 
most places, by paying the cable company. We never got a TV tax, but 
then we never got government television stations either.

> Own a house? Tax. Own land? Tax. Inherit some money or
> property from a relative? Tax. Win a car abroad and want to bring it
> to Finland? You'll have to pay almost the original price of the car
> in taxes.

Yep, yep, yep, yep. America has all those taxes.  Probably not quite as 
high, but we have em. I think the property tax on my house in California 
is something like $5000 or $6000 a year, around 1% plus "melo roos", 
which is interest on the bonds the local government sold to build 
schools and stuff. (Long story, that.) Plus taxes on water, sewage, 
trash collection, phone service, etc etc etc. Basically, everything has 
sales tax, and all the utility services have taxes on top of that. Phone 
service is a favorite dumping ground for taxes - probably 40% of my 
phone bill each month is 3% tax this, $5 tax that...

Oh, and we have "gift tax."  Someone gives you a million dollars as a 
present? Please give half to the government, thanks.

>   On the plus side, you'll usually get a fast broadband internet connection
> for a quite moderate price here.

And your government doesn't seem to treat citizens like the enemy, as 
well. :-)

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
  Helpful housekeeping hints:
   Check your feather pillows for holes
    before putting them in the washing machine.

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