"UK has a monumental taxation problem" - well they cut down the upper income tax level way too low which meant not spending enough on the stuff we all need. The petrol tax isn't high enough to make us use more sensible ways of getting around.

But if you want to pick out the things that get in the way of England being a much better place to live, there are more appropriate things to pick out than the taxation. A surly bad-tempered populace, that takes pride in its least admirable qualities, and sneers at its good qualities. But that's mostly just superficial, beneath all that there's the good stuff ready to come bubbling out again. Once they get into the folk music there's a radical transformation for the good.