Originally posted by @philokalia
I like the part about 8% of the household income...
You can be expected to pay 30%+ in tax to the government, 8% to healthcare, and then you've got food & rent, that all people need.
Pretty fabulous numbers.
How can people even tithe properly?
The Swiss have a recipe for fiscal responsibility: no tax without a plebiscite. Plebiscites are mandatory, and the results are binding. If the government wants to introduce a new tax, or raise an existing one, or extend one which is due to expire, it must hold a plebiscite. If the gov't says "yes" and the public says "no", the "no's" have it.
Across the border in Germany, political parties promise the moon but once in office do whatever they have to to appease the powers to whom they are beholden (special interest groups, large corporations etc.). In Germany, the sales tax rate is 20%. It is comparable in the UK.
In Switzerland, the current rate of sales tax is 7.7 % for cars, watches, booze, and other luxury items; 3.7% for hotel rooms; 2.5% for food, books, medication, etc. The government just asked for permission to extend the sales taxes until 2035. If permission is not granted by a majority vote in March 2018, the taxes will expire automatically in 2020.
Same applies to income tax, capital gains tax, fuel tax, unemployment and other social-benefit taxes, etc. across the board. It's called direct democracy; it works.