FICA is a U.S. federal payroll tax which stands for the Federal Insurance Contributions Act and is deducted from each pay.

In Chippyland someone on $70,000 (about $US 42,000 at present) a year has an overall income tax rate of about 20% — twice that ($NZ 140,000 or $US 84,000) and the overall rate increases to 26.5%.

There is no equivalent FICA tax but instead there is a GST rate of 15% on nearly all purchases of goods and services which is over double the average state sales taxes in the US (which often don’t apply to services.)