US taxes are similar to UK taxes, particularly in california. Putting £95k into Salary Calculator [0] says you take home ~67% of your salary after taxes. £95k is ~$120k today, and putting that into this [1] calculator says you take home ~64% of your salary.
A common American complaint is "subsidizing" European defense off of our tax dollars.
America is also a big spread out place so maintaining it is more expensive than small Euro countries.
On my first point, I think we get a rather strategic advantage from being the "Western" police. However I'm just explaining a common critique you'll hear.
Other states might end up having similar tax rates, i was just curious what made Californias so high. If that is mostly federal income tax then never mind!
I've no idea what the breakdown of federal vs state tax is sorry, and I actually don't even know how to find out. I'm just a european engineer that has genuinely looked into moving and picked california as a point of reference purely due to the high salaries and QOL factors.
This is why NATO countries need to work harder to meet the 2% defense investment guideline. US citizens are basically paying for the safety of everyone else.
[0] https://www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/salary.php
[1] https://smartasset.com/taxes/california-paycheck-calculator#...