<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>mk89</author><text>Maybe nitpicking here, but healthcare is not financed with your taxes in Germany - it&amp;#x27;s financed by statutory health insurance (SHI) and private health insurance (PHI). The State &amp;quot;simply&amp;quot; sets the framework&amp;#x2F;legislation&amp;#x2F;etc. so that it doesn&amp;#x27;t get wild (like probably it is in the USA). [0]&lt;p&gt;In Italy it&amp;#x27;s the state&amp;#x2F;regions that take your taxes and pay the health system.&lt;p&gt;[0]: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de&amp;#x2F;fileadmin&amp;#x2F;Dateien&amp;#x2F;5_Publikationen&amp;#x2F;Gesundheit&amp;#x2F;Broschueren&amp;#x2F;200629_BMG_Das_deutsche_Gesundheitssystem_EN.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de&amp;#x2F;fileadmin&amp;#x2F;Dateie...&lt;/a&gt;</text><parent_chain><item><author>ciclotrone</author><text>I find it quite disturbing that high taxation is seen as a negative aspect of Europe. I lived in Italy, France and Germany, and I enjoyed public healthcare and education of very high standard at very affordable prices, and free in the limit that one cannot afford to pay for them.&lt;p&gt;As a relative of a person with a chronic disease I can tell you that on the one hand if we are not bankrupt it is because of public healthcare, and on the other I&amp;#x27;m proud of contributing through my taxes so that anybody in need can have the same treatment irrespective of their economic situation.</text></item><item><author>ArmandGrillet</author><text>Finally. Germany combines some of the worst aspects of the US (credit ranking, complicated abortion process, private healthcare if you want decent treatments) with the worst aspects of Europe (low digitalization, high taxation, recursive federalism: within the country and within the EU).&lt;p&gt;A country like the Netherlands has its own issues (mainly housing) but doesn&amp;#x27;t have the myriad of pain points you can find in Germany like Schufa, anti-customer contract rules, or public healthcare inaccessible despite paying more than 400€&amp;#x2F;month for it as a single individual.</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation</title><url>https://noyb.eu/en/german-credit-agency-earns-millions-through-unlawful-customer-manipulation</url></story>
<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>dkural</author><text>There is no capital gains tax - Germany has less progressive taxation than the United States!  VAT in general is a regressive tax, that many EU countries inordinately rely on. A US-citizen has to pay taxes no matter where they reside, but the wealthier citizens of EU countries can easily evade taxes by domiciling themselves in various tax havens around the EU.  Germany does a very poor job collecting taxes from the highest earners.</text><parent_chain><item><author>ciclotrone</author><text>I find it quite disturbing that high taxation is seen as a negative aspect of Europe. I lived in Italy, France and Germany, and I enjoyed public healthcare and education of very high standard at very affordable prices, and free in the limit that one cannot afford to pay for them.&lt;p&gt;As a relative of a person with a chronic disease I can tell you that on the one hand if we are not bankrupt it is because of public healthcare, and on the other I&amp;#x27;m proud of contributing through my taxes so that anybody in need can have the same treatment irrespective of their economic situation.</text></item><item><author>ArmandGrillet</author><text>Finally. Germany combines some of the worst aspects of the US (credit ranking, complicated abortion process, private healthcare if you want decent treatments) with the worst aspects of Europe (low digitalization, high taxation, recursive federalism: within the country and within the EU).&lt;p&gt;A country like the Netherlands has its own issues (mainly housing) but doesn&amp;#x27;t have the myriad of pain points you can find in Germany like Schufa, anti-customer contract rules, or public healthcare inaccessible despite paying more than 400€&amp;#x2F;month for it as a single individual.</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation</title><url>https://noyb.eu/en/german-credit-agency-earns-millions-through-unlawful-customer-manipulation</url></story>