U.S. tax rates on gambling competitive disadvantage online?

[fireitup123]

Hi,
I've been contemplating an issue over the past couple of years. I live in the U.S. and pay a high % of my poker earnings to taxes. Esp. if you are in the highest tax bracket, these rates get to be pretty high. As I have been attempting to move to the highest online limits, I could not help to think how big of a help it would be to have the taxes back that I paid in building my bankroll. It seems to me that I'm at a major disadvantage in competing with other players that are not paying any taxes (who I am competing with).
It seems comparable to two businesses competing with one another, one pays taxes, but the other does not, at least in a sense.
I mentioned this to one of my poker playing friends from the UK, and he said that he thought that it evened out because the U.S. cost of living was better. I'm not sure how that could be true, esp. for high stakes players, who sometimes pay an amount high enough in taxes in a year to cover normal cost of living expenses for years at a time.
From my limited knowledge of the subject, many countries do not tax gambling incomes. As far as cost of living expenses, in some parts of the U.S. such as Los Angeles, a house can be extremely expensive.
Comments?