I always get a good chuckle when Americans point the finger at other countries and say "you pay high taxes." Seriously.

With federal/state/local income taxes (in some areas of the US), sales taxes, gas taxes, iPod & soft drink taxes (NYC), sin taxes, ammo taxes (yeah!), capital gains taxes, FICA taxes, phone use taxes, utilities taxes, etc. etc. your average schmuck can easily be paying 50% taxes. Add on mandated purchases like car insurance, auto emission testing, health and house insurance (be crazy not to buy at least catastrophic), etc. etc. . . .

America ain't the land of "low taxes" by any means.

OH . . . Jazz mins are kind of meaningless right now. All that really matter is "competitive minimums" when they're hiring, and they're liable to be quite high if the airlines start hiring again.