Taxes really are quite high - not sure how good of an indicator for this is tax to GDP ratio though.
A lot of the people frequenting HN are (usually) well off IT workers - so I find the following list quite telling - it shows an effective income tax and social security rates on USD $100,000 of gross income (based on KPMG 2012 global tax rate survey): http://imgur.com/MUZlz
This is informative, even though we should remember that comparisons can be very difficult across different systems (for instance, does our IT worker have a spouse and children, and is there a child deduction in taxation, and what else there is in childrens' services and benefits).
Usually different comparisons concentrate on "average" workers, i.e. lower income.
A lot of the people frequenting HN are (usually) well off IT workers - so I find the following list quite telling - it shows an effective income tax and social security rates on USD $100,000 of gross income (based on KPMG 2012 global tax rate survey): http://imgur.com/MUZlz