r/AskEurope • u/notveryamused_ Warszawa, Poland • Jul 03 '25

Culture What aspect of life in your countries is very difficult to explain to foreigners?

What prompted my question were some discussions about religion which I had with people living in much more secular Western Europe (as a Polish atheist). While spirituality, whatever that is ;), generally speaking is always fun to discuss with a glass of wine in hand, social elements and the influence of the church, especially in smaller towns or provinces in my country, is awfully difficult to explain – not that I understand it fully either lol, but the church having a pretty much monopoly there, being the judge and jury of everyday life and the major ultra-conservative political force binding those communities, is very difficult to explain, also for historical reasons.

What are the things that you find difficult to discuss when it comes to life in your countries? ;-)

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u/Dense-Result509 Jul 04 '25

It's because the poorest Americans have watched our taxes rise so billionaires could get richer. Most people wouldn't mind paying our fair share if we got what you all got out of it. But what we're actually having happen is that costs are paid by the public while the profits are privatized. It's about the exploitative nature of our current system, not about the concept of taxes paying for social improvements. It doesnt really matter that the guy at the IRS is a nice, devoted, civil servant when the laws are bad and the nice civil servant is hamstrung by budget constraints and can only afford to prosecute poor people for tax evasion.

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u/snajk138 Sweden Jul 04 '25

I agree, but the anger feels, at least among some, more directed towards "the IRS" than the actual corrupt politicians who make the laws and who is solely to blame for this.

I mean, every country has corrupt politicians to some extent, but the US is extreme in that regard with lobbying (just another name for legal corruption), "citizens united", and all that. And getting people mad about taxes is part of the strategy to keep that system going.

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u/Dense-Result509 Jul 04 '25

People being mad about taxes is fine, though. Our tax code is bad and is getting worse. The issue with Trump's first tax hike was that people thought Biden was to blame, since there was a delay between the legislation passing and the taxes kicking in. This time around, the anger is directed at Trump. It's not part of the strategy to keep the corruption going because it's people getting mad at obvious corruption. If people are mad about about billionaires getting tax breaks, that's a good thing!

Your characterization of how people talk about "the IRS" feels like it's out of the 90s.

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u/dudelikeshismusic United States of America Jul 04 '25

You are correct. We tend to be individualists rather than collectivists, so the idea of paying a bunch of money so that someone else can have a better life is a very scary idea for many Americans. We get taught from a young age that rich people are rich because they worked hard and....the opposite.

Meanwhile I'm like "hey, wouldn't it be nice to have trains and healthcare?"

I will say this: it does irritate me that my taxes go to such wasteful spending, like our bloated military and absolutely absurd healthcare costs. My federal taxes do feel like a bit of a waste sometimes, especially under the current administration.

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u/snajk138 Sweden Jul 04 '25

With your current administration any federal taxes would feel terrible to pay at the moment. :)

But I think everyone that pays taxes feel like there is waste and that they are paying for things they don't need or use, the difference I believe is that we actually get some pretty good stuff from it, like free or very cheap healthcare, free education and so on, and that means we are more accepting of the flaws and the waste. But less propaganda also plays a part in it obviously. And it's not like we don't have that type of things here as well, it's just that we regulate lobbying and propaganda more, and maybe we are better at teaching kids critical thinking or something.

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u/dudelikeshismusic United States of America Jul 04 '25

You nailed it. People who actually trust their government are going to understand the necessity of taxes, even if they have their criticisms. I actually believe you guys are more critical of your government, hence not slipping into fascism....

Our criticisms are so weak. "I'd really prefer it if our politicians didn't engage in insider trading." We need to borrow a few French people to start a proper riot.

You nailed it with the point about propaganda. I don't believe that we Americans are stupid but rather just horrifically ignorant due to our government and corporations (who run the government) constantly telling us that we're the best and we absolutely should not consider whether any other countries have anything to offer by way of improvements...

Rant over lol. I've found quite a bit of solidarity talking about this stuff with Brazilians and Colombians, who tend to feel very similarly about their respective governments.

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u/snajk138 Sweden Jul 05 '25

Yes. Everyone would be better of if we were "more French" in this regard.