> Portugal is one of the countries with highest income and social security taxes in Europe (not to mention VAT and other types of taxation).
This is objectively false. Portugal ranks about middle in total taxation, against the rest of the EU. Taxes are about 34% of GDP, which is pretty average in Europe.
You have all the data here, with the most interesting summary in the "Tax Main Aggregates" document:
Numbers are a beautiful thing, but in this case if we attach meaning to numbers, things like salary and disposable income start to pop-up.
We pay middle but earn way less than middle, meaning cost of goods and services are pretty much the same within some margin, but income is a order of magnitude off.
Self-pity is a national sport, but unwarranted in this case:
The country provides free health services, with quality levels that are worldwide references.
Everyone has access to free high school education and next to free university access. You can earn a medical degree for less than 10k€ in school fees.
Police, although understaffed, are effective, resulting in top world ranks in citizen security.
The only real black spot, in State services is justice. It works, but is slow as molasses.
All of these services must be paid. You draw a correlation between GDP, disposable income, and taxation level that is erroneous. The link is between State service level and taxation level. In Portugal these look OK.
This is objectively false. Portugal ranks about middle in total taxation, against the rest of the EU. Taxes are about 34% of GDP, which is pretty average in Europe.
You have all the data here, with the most interesting summary in the "Tax Main Aggregates" document:
https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/business/economic-anal...