Alan,
Like you, I used to live in the UK. I left when the last Conservative government was in power, because the cuts to services like transport, education and the rest were all contributing factors to a pretty low quality of life. For sure, the government let me keep more pocket money, but in society there was also more selfishness and, it seemes to me, a dwindling sense of civic responsibility.
All I can say is that after I broke my leg last week, thank heavens it is the Belgian service and not the poor old NHS to whom I owe my thanks for being so well-treated. I know the NHS does its best, the nurses and the doctors are truly angels in human form, and UK pals of mine do say that it is slowly improving, but it is a scandal (in my view) that the situation was ever allowed to deteriorate to that extent in the first place.
Example two: I live in Brussels and work in Antwerp, commute by train, and come snow, rain, hell or high water those trains are on time, clean, not overcrowded and cheap. In other words, exactly the opposite of Connex Railtrack or whatever it is called now.
It is for reasons like those that I don't begrudge a single cent of the (admittedly high) taxes that the state demands.
As I said, chacun a son gout. I'm sure that life in France must also have its share of attractions (in fact we go there for holidays) but low taxation is probably not one of them
Wasn't it Karl Marx himself who said "I despair of the Belgians; even the proletariat are bourgeoise" or something like that
The main thing is that people are allowed to choose whatever suits them the best.