Both are city states, they are hardly countries and much of their success is by proximity to countries where taxes aren't low (PRC, Malaysia).

Also, neither HK or Singapore are very cheap. You don't pay taxes, you just pay more. A car in Singapore, for example, is around $100K every 5 or 6 years.

I'm very tired of Americans complaining about taxes when they have one of the lowest tax burdens in the world along with the lowest cost of living based on value.