I know what you mean. I used to work for a UK pharmceutical company for a while. I remember that my bosses were upset with the government all the time with the 40% taxes. I forgot to ask about the tuition though.
My son is going to a medical school. He is doing Pre-Med. We are paying about $30,000 a year because we pay International student rate.

I checked the medical school tutions here in the U.S. It can run to $60,000 a year in the senior years. It is a pain in..the..
Yes, you may expect to pay $5,000 for property taxes here to in WA state if you don't want to live near homeless. I know that the bill just passed the house a few weeks ago that the government will charge the toll of the brige that we use everyday, $5.30 one way, $3.30 each for round trip. My adviser told me, " Okay, we can expect to pay $4,000 for a monthly pass easily since we sometimes use 4-6 trips a day.
The bus fare is not cheap either. It cost $5 for round trip.We can buy bus passes but it is not cheap. I remember that I paid 1 pound for one trip for buses in London. They have monthly passes but the price are still high.
You just have to select the state to live if you want to have your hard earned income left each month after paying all taxes and expenses.