This is not up to your average American worker. They don't choose where their money goes after they spend it and they don't have a real choice otherwise. There is no well known burger joint that pays their workers a living wage. These are ultimately the decisions American business leaders make.

American managers do generally pay a much better salary to healthcare workers but only because the profit margins are insane and often literally made up.

As far as paying taxes it really depends on where you live. Certainly the fear of paying taxes exists in depressed red states but most blue states and metropolitan areas pay more taxes and get more services because of it. People live in these areas because they are good for families.

What America wants and what they vote for are two different things and this is related to politicians not being held accountable for anything. You can say you will do one thing and the moment you are elected you can do just the opposite without consequence.

Voting in the US has pretty much become just a rubber stamp for what the wealthy want. If people won't vote for it, they just do it anyways as seen in the current administration. This is because the government was designed by the wealthy for the wealthy and democracy exists only as a facade at the Federal level.