How Sweden Balances High Taxes And Growth

Taxes are a big political issue the United States. Progressive Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have proposed higher taxes on wealthy Americans to help fund generous state welfare programs. Sweden, and other Nordic countries, are often now used as successful examples of nations that collect high taxes without hurting employment or their economies. Here’s a look at how Sweden pulls it off.
The April 15 deadline for federal tax returns is fast approaching. At the same time, taxing the wealthy is becoming a big political issue in the leadup to the 2020 presidential election.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., proposed a 70 percent marginal tax rate on wealthy Americans as part of her co-sponsored Green New Deal in February. Since then, wealth inequality and taxes have become a common platform among Democratic presidential hopefuls.
That 70% sounds like a big number, but there’s another country where some workers are paying similar taxes. Sweden.
“The short version of the story is that Sweden and other Nordic countries ... have high taxes and they have fairly good economic performance,” Torben Andersen, a professor in the Department of Economics and Business Economics at Aarhus University in Denmark, told CNBC. “And the simple explanation is that you cannot judge the effect of taxes without knowing what they are financing.”
Sweden is known to have some of the highest taxes in the world. At the same time, unemployment is low and the country has posted better GDP numbers than the United States in recent years. Here’s how a country with fewer than 10 million people pulled it off.
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#Sweden
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How Sweden Balances High Taxes And Growth

[@CNBC]

Would you pay more in taxes for better health-care or more social services?

[@TheVideomaker2341]

CNBC Hi, this is the first comment to you and replied to you the first time.

[@actionfx1]

Only if the monies raised actually went towards the programs they’re supposed to fund, but let’s be honest... they won’t. Not in the US anyway. The problem isn’t having enough money; it’s how the government wastefully spends the money they already have access to.

[@giolag5593]

Perhaps you at CNBC haven't watched what happened to Michael Dell at Davos kzbin.info/www/bejne/eX2nZ2Vnf7mDl6M

[@McSlobo]

It's not about how much you spend it's about how well you spend it. Let's face the sad fact: people usually aren't wise enough to spend their money well, quite the opposite. That's a fact that advocates government involvement in your wallet management. Of course there's a risk of corruption and misuse and you have to figure those out before that. So you need transparency - like public tax records, respectable media and other institutions. I swear the debate on how the money shall be spent is hard and loud in high tax rate countries. The last thing people want is that their tax money is wasted. However, most people agree that there are some purposes that are worth paying for, like your neighbors healtcare even if they're been unemployed for the half of their lives for some unknown reason. It's pretty much just admitting that most of our success is determined by luck instead of our own excellence.

[@TruthShallPrevail4]

Yes, I already do. When I combine how much I pay in federal, state, and local income taxes; property taxes, sales tax, SSA, Medicare, 401k, medical insurance premiums, life insurance premiums, medical costs, college tuition so on and so forth. But I don’t get much in return. One devastating illness, I’d possibly lose my job since since FMLA is only guaranteed 12 weeks of unpaid leave, go bankrupt, my medical costs may or may not be covered by my insurance, even then I’d have to cover coinsurance and deductions. Don’t even talk about education costs, childcare costs, cost of care when I become old. So yes, tax me 60-70% because that’s effectively what I’m paying anyway, but ensure that I get free healthcare, free college education, paid medical leave, free or subsidized childcare, and take care of me when I’m old and can no longer work.

[@lokis7230]

I´m swedish. I don´t care about numbers or percent tax. What´s important to me is how I can live my life. I have a normal job as a train driver. I own my own house, have a car (Volvo of course), enough money in the bank so I can travel on my vacation (five weeks/year, I was in the US this winter and will go to Japan in October). I have a cottage in the mountains in the north of Sweden where I can go skiing or hiking. I have no debts from studies. I can get healtcare if I need and not being denied by any insurance company who makes profit from my money. I can stop working when I´m old and survive economicaly. I feel free to do what I want. No, the state doesn´t own me even if the taxe is high as some Americans think. Always have to think of how to survive would have stressed me and make me feel not free. America is probably good if you are rich otherwise I don´t think so.

[@myklagenfurt]

Train driver. Goverment worker? Cant compare you to a normal employee in the private sectors. Same here in Austria. Goverment workers are very wealthy compare to others.

[@victorcapel2755]

He might be in the private sector, the Railways isn't all goverment run in Sweden.

[@FluxTails]

@@myklagenfurt Generally government workers in sweden are worse off money wise but may have some additional benefits not available to someone in the private sector. There are of course outliers

[@andrewgan5055]

Are train workers millionaires in Sweden?

[@truthless4720]

@@andrewgan5055 The average salary for a train driver in Sweden is about 31500 SEK (or 3300 USD) a month. That would then be taxed for about 32% if memory serves and will be about 21420 SEK / 2250 USD in your bank account. VAT in sweden is 25% so you could argue that those 21420 SEK are then only worth about 16065 SEK / 1700 USD for purchasing wares, but that wouldn't be entirely true as VAT is only added on certain wares, and not on most of your regular bills, like rent and so forth.

[@ahernandez50]

You forgot to mention a key issue, that corporate tax rates are rather low in Sweden. The high taxes apply only to personal income. This system creates an incentive for companies to operate in Sweden, while still being able to maintain the welfare state.

[@mnofal7]

A complete lie, those taxes mainly go to pay debt to international banks who give loans to Sweden and its schools. They just use schools and kids to steal you, who said in the first place that education must be that long and expensive? Sweden was way richer before those high taxes. Now they sell their companies to Chinese.

[@ihazplawe2503]

@@mnofal7 at least the swedes don't go bankrupt over getting hit by a car

[@tech8222]

Many countries (Including Sweden) use a VAT, which is paid by the rich/business in that way.

[@JBoy340a]

Sweden's growth is a funded by my Spotify subscription.

[@jleau89]

lol

[@Dostrain]

US growth is funded by my netflix subscription.

[@joejingojack]

Next time you will learn by stop being so gullible..

[@cocotaveras8975]

jerry kurata 😂😂

[@a.n.l.aantineoliberalismas4504]

Bra

[@DennisCambly]

And no one is allowed to call you at home from work on a day off

[@campkira]

well yeah but i don't pick up phone on my day off anyhow... so....

[@JerzyFeliksKlein]

Same in Germany

[@origamiandcats6873]

It depends what you do. I don't bug people on their day off but I've gotten calls and texts on my day off. I worked all the time at my last job. I no longer work there. They took advantage of me.

[@Cod4Wii]

Just like the movie Office Space!

[@sucram1015]

That's good! I plan on starting my own company here in the USA in a year or two from now and that will be a policy I put in place.

[@DynamicUnreal]

Sweden has no property taxes, no inheritance tax, and no taxes on wealth. Quite the opposite compared to America.

[@khankrum1]

The more migrants it lets n drawing upon welfare you will be forced to impose higher, and new taxes!

[@TheCrazierz]

Sweden has a population of 1 US state....

[@iironhide6209]

@@TheCrazierz and your point? How does it debunk their tax system's success

[@TheCrazierz]

@@iironhide6209 I didn't say anything about debunking, did I? My point is pretty obvious, isn't it? It's not a good comparison, 1 small country with 1 huge country.

[@iironhide6209]

@@TheCrazierz Both countries have extremely developed economies and are tech hubs of the world. The actual size of the countries do not matter. Admittingly, America's hetereogeneity in culture (multiculturalism and pro-illegal immigrant mindset) does make this comparison a bit iffy.

[@Truth-of-the-matter]

Ultimately higher taxes won't be effective in the United States until the federal and local governments learn how to spend money. The top two contributors to the national debt are healthcare and the military complex both combined cost over a trillion dollars a year. I believe we have plenty of capitol money to work with but the funds are so poorly spent and misused that we can't allocate the funds to programs such as education, infrastructure and healthcare that actually helps people.

[@mackan7086]

Yeah, lets build that wall!

[@jonasv0201]

And like 7% or so of the budget goes to pay interests on the debt. 5-7% of the national budget for military spending is quite typical in Europe. USA could decrease the defence budget from around 15% of the budget to around 9% and still be superior in terms of military spending.

[@victorcapel2755]

@Jonas Jam The debt situation is of higher importance then many realize. National debt is postponed tax. What you borrow today, you don't have to tax today though you will have to pay by tax money sometime in the future. The US National debt is more 3 times larger then Swedens, relative to resp. nations GDP of course (30% for Sweden and 102% for the US). That means that the US is under-taxed by a factor of 3 or so.

[@angrydragonslayer]

they could restructure the military to run as a PMC, a PMC at the size of the US army navy and air force combined with 400k/year grunt salaries would still be cheaper than the current system

[@jaywest3734]

It'll never be effective because it won't be the rich paying most of the taxes in the end, it'll be the middle class.

[@colonelquakers]

With the amount the US taxes it’s citizens CURRENTLY, we would well be able to pay for social services... the problem is the MONEY IS NOT BEING USED FOR THAT. So no matter how much you tax Americans, the corruption in the government will stifle whatever “free” programs we want to implement. It literally doesn’t matter if you tax us at 100%, it wouldn’t solve the problem.

[@genocidejoe]

so sad

[@RB-xq7qh]

US taxes go to war. The best business on the planet. Sad

[@gwaiwohng2181]

100% tax truly still wouldn't create the Leftist utopian socialist state. Democratic Socialism is two wolves and a sheep voting what's for dinner.

[@envison001]

@@gwaiwohng2181 No one has ever suggested anything close to that... the 70% is graduated tax bracket.. of 10million. Try looking up graduated taxes because you sound ignorant

[@amitcarbyne3635]

US first needs to end corruption

[@victorcapel2755]

A person that makes 78K USD in Sweden takes home WAY more than 23.6 K USD. Way, Way more. I make 442 K Swedish Krona/year (44 K USD) as a Construction worker, and I take home roughly 269 K SEK (27 K USD). Granted, If you earn more you tax more, as a procentage of your income, but not to the Point where 78 K USD becomes 23.6 K USD. Did you mix up marginal tax rate with final tax rate? Because it's not the same thing. Also, 1/3 of the Money that the employer pays, are a tax to begin with and is ofc not taxed again. If your total cost for the employer is 90 K, you pay income tax only tax on 60 K (the first 30 is a pay role tax). And Everything under about 50 K of that is taxed at the regular rate (about 22-25% after deductables, depending on where you live) and only the last 10 K is taxed with an extra 20%.

[@RodrigoSouza-ur5jz]

You are right. I live in Sweden. Can confirm. They messed up something with those numbers.

[@correctionguy7632]

"Did you mix up marginal tax rate with final tax rate" ofcourse they did and its certainly no accident. this is burger entertainment after all.

[@victorcapel2755]

@@correctionguy7632 They could also have gotten the payroll tax wrong. Basicly, Sweden has a payroll tax of 31.32%. That's a tax the employer have to pay to the government, in addition to your salary. It covers pensions and a couple of other things. If you simplify the math to the level of a 5th-grader, then you could come to the conclusion that Swedish taxes are roughly 60+%, since payroll tax is 31.32%, income tax ~30% (depending on where you live and before deductions. In reality it's about 21-25%), then you just keep ~35%. In reality, the income tax is only calculated on the salary, not the payroll tax, so the math gets wrong.

[@amdl270]

I have a question. What about inheritance and taxes on that? Do you see a devide between the Swedes who inherit summer houses and those that live in apartments for generations? I feel like that's a larger issue in many countries. How does Sweden deal with that?

[@victorcapel2755]

@@amdl270 We abolished inheritance tax about 10 years ago, IIRC. No property tax either. Bad moves, as far as I am concerned. Those taxes does more for equality than most other taxes.

[@eliseumds]

Who calculated that take-home pay? Geez, it's 21st century, people, and you still don't know how to calculate taxes. It'd be around 48k USD depending on the municipality.

[@BesartFultz]

@CanadianLoki76 can you elaborate the calculation please, I live in Sweden but do not agree with these numbers..

[@rjose705]

In Sweden your first money until the poverty line is tax-free

[@milkncookie]

Be nice! She's American. We'd be lucky if geographically she could point out where Sweden is on a world map.

[@linusjoensson8219]

My god the arrogance.. do you know what the "allmänna löneavgift" is? No, you dont. You have no clue what you are talking about.

[@linusjoensson8219]

@@rjose705 No, not close. You pay 12% tax from the very first SEK in income. This is *excluding* "tax charges", I.E. taxes payed for specific services (a total of ~32%). Its really, really crazy that you dont know these things. I dont know if you are to blame or if it is our educational system that is insane.

[@bzdtemp]

IKEA was a Swedish company, but they have relocated to the Netherlands for tax reasons (of course not their official reason).

[@Aamie]

IKEA's founder was a nazi

[@mackan7086]

It is still a Swedish company. No matter which manuevers they take to avoid taxes

[@DukeNukemIsHere3]

The corporate tax rate in the Netherlands is 20-25% and in Sweden it is 22%. IKEA has a special tax deal in the Netherlands, involving foundations and holding companies in Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, which has been investigated by the EU.

[@jeppep95]

@@DukeNukemIsHere3 its not a corporation

[@jeppep95]

@@mackan7086 how is it swedish if its not located in sweden?

[@antonw-uw4ov]

As a Swed i can tell you they messed up the numbers on this one. They failed to factor in the ”employer fee” which is a tax on income that is supposed to go to paying for ”social fees” meaning daycare, healtcare, a small pension and other vauge taxposts. This part of the tax is about 32% on top of the income tax part, which itself is about a minimum of 32%. So even if you make the equivalent of 38000usd a year you pay 32+32% in taxes. And it only goes up from there. Not to mention that sales tax is 25% a cross the board and there are added fees and special tax on all the most expensive commodities.

[@framling4692]

Jahopp

[@mark5338]

thats crazy lol. I would run away from that country if it was me. And now even more with the immigration crisis in the country. Sweden is sprinting to destruction.

[@alanfrost75]

Aren't those figures off though? I mean the employer fee, as I understand it, is paid prior to your salary, which means you pay your income tax off the remaining bit, not the gross total. It just makes no sense because I know you guys dont pay higher taxes than we do (I am Danish). That's one reason so many Danes live on the other side of the bridge. The way I understand it is as follows: E.g. you negotiate your salary at 50,000. To pay you this, the employer is charged 32%, so he pays 16,000. You then get paid the 50,000, and on that pay 35% (which appears to be what they pay in Stockholm). You pay another 17,500, leaving you with 32,500. So this means that your gross salary (including employee fee) was 50,000 + 16,000= 66,000. But the total taxes paid were 16,000 + 17,500 = 33,500... or just over 50%. Very much like the rest of Scandinavia.

[@antonw-uw4ov]

@@alanfrost75 Yes slightly off i guess but the "Employer fee" is currently 31.42% of an employees gross income and is in reality a tax on income and not a fee. But my point was also that that is not where it ends. The Swedish VAT was temporarely jacked up from about 4% to 25%....that was 50 years ago now and we are still at 25%. And on the flip side If you own a company you get to turn over 25% of what you charge to the government. That often means that in retail the govenment makes more profit from your sales than you do. Just cause other scandinavian countries has it as bad as we do does not mean it fine. The VAT is actually the biggest problem. It makes it so that a lot of imported gods becomes unresonably expensive. Sometimes to the point of beeing cost prohibitive to customers. And finaly, it's not like Swedes get what they paid for. When you call the police; they don't come, when you go to the hospital you wait for hours, you have to pay for a ride on the bus or train even though you paid for the road, the tracks and the traincar. The list goes on...

[@2Banarne2]

@@antonw-uw4ov lies, VAT is not 25% across the board, food stuffs are 12% etc. ffs trying to correct "misinformation" with yet more misinformation... brilliant bud

[@sanashy9024]

*probably, the Swedes have a high trust in their institutions*

[@thomasleion2309]

we must...or else they totaly deplatform the individual...radio signal reconnisiance AND deep state under cover agency it´s the military weapon they use

[@larsr2798]

All the Nordic countries have. And it works because we have tranparency.

[@noaha5484]

sure, we do

[@andrewjensen8189]

Not really... Americans just don't trust their institutions...

[@crazydinosaur8945]

@@andrewjensen8189 u dont say

[@hamzadd12]

might seem odd but for like the first 20 second i thought this was a vox video.

[@whatever5922]

Ayyadi Hamza they stole the way vox creates content

[@justrandomthings319]

They're both hyper liberal channels so I'm not surprised.

[@3xsxs953]

It's the vocal fry.

[@hamzadd12]

@Johnson Taylor more so i started watching these CNBC bits lately and the shift style was felt.. in all cases it looks good and i think VOX wouldn't mind the competition.

[@WJGSix]

Don’t you be giving them crazy ideas like that. I need to pay for my Netflix somehow :-p

[@adityadeshpande9781]

Moral of the story- Sweden spend tax dollars on -military- education, healthcare etc.

[@user-qs2nr3ee6l]

Sweeden doesnt need a millitary tho. Its not a major country in the world

[@taf4939]

_ thanks to the USA citizens,

[@aaronbalderas512]

You can thank America for that if America didnt they basically all of Asia and Europe would have been Russian rn the U.s sacrifices for the world while the world crises the u.s we should just stop protecting. Them so we can afford all those programs and see how countries come begging to us

[@taf4939]

Aaron Balderas politics is not that simple, young one

[@aaronbalderas512]

@@taf4939 ik but they should why protect them even they criticize us?

[@lucaslzt]

Sweden has an accountable government. The US does not.

[@MaskinJunior]

Well, holding your government to account is your responsibility. We have our fair share of scandals too, but we like to remind our politicians come election day, because "The North remembers".

[@hugojosefsson7208]

We don't really. Our goverment sucks at the moment

[@burdine26.120]

"As President, Trump has pushed us up to $21 trillion in national debt and he is now on track to reach new record debt levels way, way, way above that. … The [Republican] Trump tax cuts have significantly accelerated what is now Donald Trump’s rush to a fiscal crisis much worse than anything he encountered in his Atlantic City Casino bankruptcies." - Lawrence O’Donnell, "Debt Soars Under President Donald Trump Tax Cuts," June 26, 2018, goo.gl/nEAHMN GOP Economic Adviser: Most Irresponsible Tax Cuts In U.S. History, Nov 16, 2017, kzbin.info/www/bejne/qHq7qZ6Co9Zrprs "I Trusted You!" Furious Trump Voters REVOLT Over Republican Tax Scam, Feb 5, 2019, kzbin.info/www/bejne/aIKappdteriEjsU Budget Deficit Soars To 6-Year High Under President Donald Trump’s Republican Tax Cuts, Oct 16, 2018, kzbin.info/www/bejne/e3rYq6CumrOVr6s Fed Chairman Powell Says He Is ‘very Worried’ About Growing Amount Of Us Debt, Jan 11 2019, www.cnbc.com/2019/01/10/fed-chairman-powell-says-he-is-very-worried-about-growing-amount-of-us-debt.html Republicans' 'Fiscal Responsibility' Cost Us Trillions, Oct 31, 2018, kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKvMqaWal7V1bMk

[@MaskinJunior]

@@burdine26.120 it may be counter intuitive, but the national debt doesn't matter. What matters is the bond yealds. It was believed to be a function of the debt, but recent history has shown that there is no limit on how much money America is allowed to borrow. There has not been a bond failure yet, and still the yeald is negative in real terms. Wired times, we have to unlearn what we thought was true about national economy.

[@mreriiie]

The Swedish "leader" is an failed welder. Did not even finish that education haha ..

[@pietstone515]

Can you do a video on Switzerland? Low taxes and still a very good performance socially and economically!

[@whatwhat3432523]

Since it's impossible to copy Switzerlands position, why should they even bother?

[@ogmelle2622]

Nazi Gold LUL

[@hausner8584]

Taxes in Switzerland are quite similar to those in USA. In fact a little higher. But this created a somehow false picture. For example they have private healthcare insurance. So premiums don't count forward taxes. But the market is strictly regulated and operates more like single payer system then a free market system. The also spend 3x less of GDP on Defense.

[@marianotrani8438]

Hausner85 you are wrong, they are sensibly lower. It’s not a case that many celebrities such as Paris Hilton have moved there to avoid high American taxes

[@hausner8584]

@@marianotrani8438 And how did you messured it? By looking at same tax rates? If you want to determine general level of taxation in a given country you should look at share of GDP collected as taxes by the government. US collects 27.1% of GDP as taxes and Swiss collect 27.8%. So in general the taxes are quite similar in both. And now about people who move to pay lower taxes. They are SCAMMERS. The wealth is a result of conditions, opportunities and safety that given society provides. Elon Musk couldn't build his rockets in Somalia. You are take a lot from society in order to become wealthy. And the society has the right to charge you for that in form of taxes. But is you are avoiding paying you are a cheat and should be tratead like one. The government should send IRS after you and not try to appease you by lowering taxes.

[@malenaboy]

I was so impressed with the way the Scandinavian/Swedish system was set up when I lived in Uppsala during my exchange year, I plan to move back in the near future once I can secure gainful employment. Jag älskar Sverige, Sverige i mitt hjärta, ja jag vill leva ja jag vill dö i Norden!

[@4ndersgunn4r]

Wow du klämde in allt där i slutet. Hoppas du kommer tillbaka och hittar ett bra jobb. fortsätt träna på svenskan. viktigare än många tror, men främst att först, vet många ex amerikaner som pratar engelske hela tiden men förstår svenskan så det går jättebra :D

[@WhiteRussianBC]

Sverige är överskattat

[@CruelQuertos]

@@WhiteRussianBC ööh... Nej.

[@toniownez]

Sweden is terrible. I hate this country and moving to Australia

[@CruelQuertos]

@@toniownez i dont care. good for you.

[@randyhockin2437]

Some time ago I asked a Swedish friend of mine about the high taxes in Sweden. He said, quite proudly, "we don't mind because we get value for our tax dollar". That resonated with me. I suppose the reason why other nations are adverse to paying higher taxes is because we don't perceive we are getting value for the dollar. American politicians promoting universal health care should take note and promote the economic benefits and outcomes - not promote it as a government social program or hand out. On average, Americans pay 30% more for health care and live an average of 3 years less than other OECD countries. Much of the savings is driven by better preventative care and elimination of profit and middlemen. After all, insurance companies need to make money for shareholders and they have little interest in preventative care as often insurance is tied to employment so there is less motivation; however, a single payer is going to take the long view. I live in Canada where we have universal medical care but it does not cover drugs like Sweden. I don't mind paying taxes to fund our medical care - I know I am getting value. I only wish it was extended to drug and dental.

[@magnusorn7313]

a often overlooked reason for high taxes is the selfish gain in it, i get more if everyone pays tax than if everyone didnt

[@linusjoensson8219]

Not sure if it was intended, but this was a nail on the head moment. Its in the word "perceive". Yes, the difference - the reason Sweden has this situation - is general perception. Your friend perceives that his money is needed for the services he receives. In reality, this is objectively false. But the perception is what will make him happy or unhappy with the situation. Now, combine this with a government with an insane grip on the market(s), and not least huge influence over media. And not in the US way - where you have very polarized political influences - no, in the Swedish way, where there is just one, single narrative.

[@antonw-uw4ov]

Honestly, your friend has had the wool pulled over hes eyes. If you call the police in Sweden, they don't come. If you report a crime they send you back a notice that the case has been dropped in 2 weeks. If you go to a hospital you wait for hours. You have to pay to take a bus or train, even though you paid for the road, the tracks and the traincar or bus. And if you have your own car you get to pay 60% tax on you gas. Taxpayer money in Sweden goes mostly down into the big black hole that is large govenrment, wasted on nonsense.

[@draganostojic6297]

Agree on that dental and prescription drugs should be free in Canada.

[@HeroesOfPepsi]

Hm surprising peaceful comment section, was expecting a war between left and right.

[@linusjoensson8219]

Instead, >95% of the commentators have absolutely no idea about their income tax. Thats probably why you see no "war". Theres not really anything left or right about this: sweden is taxing the poor. Not sure if its left or right. Its pretty unique.

[@isakjohansson7134]

Thats because these people havent been to sweden and seen how "perfect" it is

[@tech8222]

@@linusjoensson8219 Scandinavia: Raising Funds using Everyone.

[@coopsnz1]

@@linusjoensson8219 high exise taxes screwing you

[@Sunnyclearing]

In Sweden tax money goes to school, health care (psychologists, hospitals and elderly people who are not able to take care of them selves), police, military, student loans, art in cities, infrastructure and another social services. For instance when I work 30% of my earned money goes to services that I and other people have right to. If I break my leg I don't have to pay for the health care but I have to play for my visit at the hospital but it's not much.

[@projectjt3149]

As someone who's grown to like a more fiscally conservative view, it's oddly comforting to see how Sweden has an "efficient" tax and welfare system, though I'd like to hear whether or not there are some parts of their healthcare system that can bottleneck healthcare delivery.

[@makedredd299]

US would benefit from taxes getting directed towards relevant educations being cheaper and less debt oriented towards the people. Also taxes getting directed towards sick leave policies and maternity leave would add a level of relief to the lower and medium working class. Still any country that blindly tries to copy and model everything like Sweden, will soon find out that the blind is leading the blind. Being proactive in any given issue was never the DNA of Sweden.

[@Gamenetreviews]

Saltponds239 Lol and the same thing for healthcare. We have fairly high taxes as well and we got lots more debt. Our government is corrupted by the private medical industry and public government unions.

[@yusufcagowayne1990]

Minnesota is bigger than Sweden 3000 million people to 10 million

[@JJs_playground]

This is a very similar to Canada's system. Notice how social democratic countries like Sweden, Norway, Canada are always rated the top places to live every year.

[@dymechik721]

Jameel Ja All of those countries have populations that could fit within a single US state. If they had to support 327 million people, you can guarantee things would be different. All of those countries are already experiencing backlash against their socialist and open door policies due to the financial strain it’s putting on taxpayers and their economy. See how welcoming they’ll be in 5 years from now.

[@JJs_playground]

@@dymechik721 but wouldn't the larger population allow for more taxes to be collected, it's proportional to your tax base. The more people, the more taxes which means more money for social programs. While you're right, European countries are experiencing a large backlash to immigration, I haven't noticed that level of backlash in Canada. I strongly believe that if you help everybody it's better for society. You never know who/where the next entrepreneur or inventor will be and from which country they will emigrate from. Prime Example is Steve jobs, his biological father was a Syrian immigrant, he was given up for adoption and went on to create the largest most successful business (Apple) in history.

[@yusufcagowayne1990]

You can't compare those countries to USA . Canada and Sweden are shitholes

[@davo1822]

Jihad against normies N Furries lmao imagine thinking Canada and Sweden are shitholes. Have you ever been there?

[@claudel.8983]

But Canada is going un the wrong direction ( more and more american)

[@jolank]

So according to the Swedish tax calculator a person in Stockholm earning in gross 46,000 kr/mo costs the employer ~60,500 kr/mo (726,000kr/yr or $88,000) and takes home ~34,800kr/mo ($50,600). So the actual tax rate for such person is some 42%.

[@lzh4950]

Realised that Singapore's top income tax rate of 22% is relatively low but the qualifying annual income to hit that top rate is low too (S$320,000/US$230,000/SEK1.8m the last time I checked). We've quite a number of other significant taxes too e.g. 30-45% on water bills, on CNG, ~200-300% on cars, ~S$8-10 per 20 cigarette sticks (& no duty-free allowance for tobacco importation)

[@drutten73]

But for the worker the tax is only 25% of his income

[@coopsnz1]

@@drutten73 hugh exise taxes , you pay more than 25% tax in Sweden

[@drutten73]

@@coopsnz1 not in normal income tax. If you calculate corporate tax and vat on gods you buy, it’s more. But not on your income

[@coopsnz1]

@@drutten73 no lefty or socialist mention that

[@vinnieramone4818]

in the u.s. we should start describing what we pay to private companies for healthcare, education, childcare etc as taxes. I think we would stack up as one of the highest taxed countries in the world.

[@Luke-bj8mr]

But at least I don’t have to pay it if I don’t want too or don’t have the money

[@Luke-bj8mr]

Correction Guy u realize in Sweden they don’t have the money like in the country to pay for the health care or up keeping of their population because 25 percent of the population has came In 30 years without paying much taxes if paying them at all. Therefore if any economic strife or major disaster hits, the country has a large potential to implode. A large population boom would even be bad for the country as more money is spent on healthcare,child care and schooling. Considering the majorities of a population are in lower class and that the incoming immigrants are known to have large families with many kids their country I not in a great place to succeed in the long term.

[@blhtml]

that was a very good selling point for ACA

[@blhtml]

@@Luke-bj8mr I hope the human race can evolve to include everybody and not let anybody behind! Bad luck can happen to us every day!

[@martinko4086]

@@blhtml YOU have very childish and naïve ideas !! WAKE up and smell coffee ….. and get the job .

[@EVGHENIIGUTU]

Need remember, Sweden not fight in the different wars for last 100 years. It is very important for any economy.

[@shamrock141]

Yeah they were clever

[@claesblom]

EVGHENII GUTU actually it’s 200+ years. We had our last peace 1816.

[@janandersson5773]

claes! Actually it was 1814, but who’s counting.

[@darkwolf4434]

Yet we were one of the poorest countries in most of that time and got rich only because of how world war 2 made many countries lose resources which they had to but from Sweden aswell as removing much of our social democracy.

[@TheJonasbz]

It was, in the 50s and 60s, today it means nothing

[@justincheng5241]

The key thing in a consumer economy is whether or not its citizens have a substantive amount of money for consumer goods to generate demand. Sweden's high taxes ensures that the basic necessitates of life and social welfare concerns of its people are taken care of, that frees up the remaining take home pay to be spent on consumer goods. America's relatively low taxes in contrast, do not stimulate economic growth because its citizens end up spending a lot of their own money for things that in other countries are paid in common, especially on health care.

[@robertsugarland]

If I don’t go to University, nor have kids,etc it doesn’t make sense to give away 65% of my salary.

[@WoWPVPc0rner]

u get free healthcare and 5 weeks guaranteed vacation tho, roberto

[@crazydinosaur8945]

@@WoWPVPc0rner and free University if u want in, and Denmark (idk about Sweden) we pay u to go to University. so u can get smarter

[@savitar8002]

@@WoWPVPc0rner Assume that you will fall sick only twice in your life time, didn't u waste your money by paying tax

[@ChiefKene]

I like the idea, highly doubt that can be the case in the US. The government does a poor job managing the money they have access to right now. Over staffed and underpaid in some agencies and under staffed and over paid in others.

[@prajwalsharma213]

You should consider the fact that Us in 30 times bigger than Sweden in terms of population

[@DA-bm2mj]

the experts' speeches are incomprehensible. subtitles would be much helpful.

[@AminGhomati]

press C on your keyboard or the CC on the screen

[@nathanhyde2946]

Hes Danish cut him some slack lmao

[@sdoe7381]

They forget to mention they have loose regulations and they use the school voucher system.

[@albinjohnsson2511]

Loose in some limited respects, but much stricter than America in other aspects. Food and chemical safety, worker's safety, worker's rights, etc. are very regulated, and unions are much stronger than in the US. And yes, we have a voucher system, but most people go to public schools run by the local government. There's basically no privately funded education (maybe 4-5 schools in the entire country). And unlike the US, where school funding is based on the parents' wealth (absolute insanity), the worst-performing schools are given the largest amounts of money and the best-paid teachers.

[@sdoe7381]

@@albinjohnsson2511 I think the problem we have in the US is corruption and allocation of funds. In some cases poorer schools are given extra funds and the money is still wasted in corrupt teachers Unions bad spending habits. I mean just look at what happend with Covid 19 the teachers Union in Chicago was saying your a white supremacist or internalized your whiteness if you wanted the schools to open up closed schools affected poorer schools more than rich schools because many of the upper class can put their kids through private school and many private schools have been open for a while. Not to mention these high schools pretty much pass anybody. Are diplomas are diluted compared to past generations. You can get D's in all of your classes and still graduate. You can almost do nothing and still pass, but it varies from state to state. I'm in CA it's a good idea to look at how other countries run their school systems, but The problem I have with comparing the US to Nordic countries is that we are a way more diverse and way more populated country. It is not an apple to apple comparison by any means.

[@harshalagrawal03]

Sweden's higher tax are for the middle class.

[@user-fg8it6kp3e]

3:30 your figures for tax don't make sense, a person earning 78,000 would have a take home pay of 47,000 and pay $31,000 in taxes.

[@krzysio53a]

that sum also include pension contribution and perks (non cash benefits)

[@coolbeans6148]

That's about right, sucks dosen't? And no, I'm not defending the horribly ineffective US gov

[@f0real9]

0:35 nice that you show a Dutch Ikea

[@1N73RC3P7OR]

IKEA is owned by the Dutch.

[@sebastiant4206]

@@1N73RC3P7OR lol what? It's owner by swedes but they have their fund in the Netherlands. So most of the money end up in funds to avoid taxes. It's still owned by swedes

[@f0real9]

@@sebastiant4206 ofc I mean that ikea is owned by swedes but this is an Ikea in the Netherlands, it says "ingang" which means entrance in Dutch and it has a Dutch flag.

[@Ritaaw1]

f0REAL it’s ingång in swedish :D

[@f0real9]

@@Ritaaw1 look again it says ingang nog ingång.

[@2.Cuzzzz]

Thanks to our tax we have free university, free school food , free dental care up to 23 years old, free school books

[@yamoura4398]

My parents hastily left their countries and everything they had due to war and had to reestablish themselves in a completely new environment, shortly before I was born. Now, thanks to the welfare of Sweden, I am months away from a degree in law, without drowning in debt and I will always be grateful for the possibilities that this country has given me and my family. För Sverige i tiden

[@silversurfer8818]

Då får vi hoppas att du lever ett mycket ärofyllt liv och uppoffrande för Sverige, för att ha räddat ditt och din familjs liv!

[@petter5721]

YaMoura And now you should move home and rebuild your country!!!

[@yamoura4398]

@@petter5721 You know what, random KZbinr? You are right. I am taking my degree, payed by Swedish taxpayers, and putting it to fruit somewhere else:) Great idea! Peace!

[@samuelskogqvist5565]

@How bout' you chill If my parents are from Sweden and they move to China and then i'm borned, does that make me chinese?

[@luana.desousa6398]

@@petter5721 he won't go to the shithole his predecestors created. He will enjoy the easy life he got from other peoples nation by luck that's how globalism works

[@XSpImmaLion]

The problem with these comparisons is that the reality of the other country is extremely different from the reality of the US... Of course, there are lessons to be learned, but transplanting a policy from a country that is totally different than yours has high risks of rejection.

[@Danybella]

EXACTLY.

[@keshav4203]

thats why ikea is based in netherlands

[@peace8373]

It is all about the quality of life for the Citizens. When the Citizens needs are satisfied, when citizens are happy, when needs of education, health care and family time are addressed and services provided for children to grow, all the citizens will prosper. When the citizens prosper the country grows and the use of fear to divide the winners and losses will no longer be effective.

[@jean-claudelol563]

And yet all these Scandinavian and quasi-socialist countries of Europe were coming apart at the seams, ready to deport, imprison and exterminate immigrants from a wave of immigrants from Syria. They have proven how stable and happy their citizens and countries are indeed under these socialist systems.

[@mnofal7]

A complete lie, those taxes mainly go to pay debt to international banks who give loans to Sweden and its schools. They just use schools and kids to steal you, who said in the first place that education must be that long and expensive? Sweden was way richer before those high taxes. Now they sell their companies to Chinese.

[@coopsnz1]

Only citzen are happy the working class that rent , middle class & upper class hate social democracy

[@NihilSineDeo09]

Copying and pasting the Swedish model in USA wouldn't work out. In USA we do not have the same labor participation rate, education, and value-added jobs that the Swedes have (I am talking at a general level). We are not as healthy and physically active as they are, so our healthcare costs would be exponentially higher (just look at Bernie's 30 Trillion Medicare-for-All cost over 10 years). They also do not have the state-centric government model, but instead they have a more centralized and powerful central government. Until recently they did not have to deal with the costs of illegal migration (and once they starting dealing with it, the parties on the right started gaining traction in order to give some balance). I am not against importing some reforms that can be customized four our American republic, but just a massive copy-and-paste would be naive.

[@sdnalyam]

Ikea based in Switzerland, low tax Canton. Volvo owned by Chinese who are making them in China and bought it for it's technology.

[@FredrikThool]

Volvo is still controlled, developed and built in Sweden.

[@dominics.5456]

Ikea is not based in Switzerland, my friend.

[@TheLastCrusader22]

@@FredrikThool A completely factually false lie having four times the likes of the correction shows why Trump is president today

[@mnofal7]

A complete lie, those taxes mainly go to pay debt to international banks who give loans to Sweden and its schools. They just use schools and kids to steal you, who said in the first place that education must be that long and expensive? Sweden was way richer before those high taxes. Now they sell their companies to Chinese.

[@LL-bm8yn]

@@mnofal7 Firstly, not really. Secondly, why have you wrote the same thing on several other persons comments?

[@l1nus0nl1neproductions9]

I find it quite facinating how citizens from each country seem to crave what the other has: Swedes are complaining about high taxes (ethen when these are going to the benefit of the state). So they escape abroad to get more financial freedom. Americans who feel constantly blown by politicians and companies, want a more equitable tax systems that actually benefit the population.

[@l1nus0nl1neproductions9]

Just another Bird Imo, excuses, excuses ... if it’s not the taxes then it is immigration and if it is not immigration then there is something else

[@sondrejohansen48]

Linus on the Line that other guy is speaking nonsense. I am also a Swede and many of my family live abroad. The reason most people are going outside is not because of immigration because if that was a thing we wouldn’t be voting for Centre Party, Moderates or other Left or centre right parties. Because most swedes living abroad has voted for Left-centre right parties which aren’t opposed to immigration. The reasons are more complex due and varies a lot, like higher prospect of education in higher levels, and also the fact that globalisation which makes living abroad easier (like tell me, would you enjoy living at -10c throughout the whole winter?) and also some people also move for more financial prospects.

[@BicyclesMayUseFullLane]

Grass is always greener on the other side. Also, living in northern climate can be really depressing. Imagine getting only 5 hours of proper sunlight per day.

[@jose131991]

Mingwei Zhang no thanks lol. I’ll take a tropical place please (all biomes and seasons have pros & cons)

[@lubex3486]

USA is way better than Sweden! We literally have 60% tax! and it's pure unfair and evil etc!

[@meldridgereedjr2842]

You should read "The Accidental Superpower","The Absent Superpower" and "Disunited Nations" by Peter Zeihan.

[@harry24798]

This video is a bit misleading. Sweden takes in almost as much in V.A.T and excise taxes, as it takes in from income tax and those are regressive taxes on consumption, where the poor pay exactly the same as the rich. Also, the income tax in Sweden is very high for low-income earners as well as the rich. For example, someone in Sweden who makes 20,000 pays as much income tax as someone who makes 200,000 in the united states (32%). The top 10% of income earners in the united states pay about 45% of all taxes. In Sweden, the top 10% only pays about 27% of all taxes. Also, Swedish corporations pay about the same corporate tax as corporations in the US do, so no, they don't tax big business. Finally, Sweden has a pro-competition free choice model in education, something that teachers' unions in the US would never allow simply because its too 'neoliberal'. Their education is really an amazing example of what they do so well, which is to strike a balance. The state collects taxes and pays for education, but citizens are allowed to pick any school they want for their kids and a lot of schools are privately ran. That's how you take care of your people. You combine the free market and welfare into a hybrid model. Sweden has a great free market and a wonderful social safety-net that makes of use of that market.

[@WhiteRussianBC]

Education is paid by the municipalities (kommuner), not states (landsting). There are very few private schools in Sweden (probably less than 10). There are however many "free schools", which are run by private entities but almost entirely reimbursed by the municipalities (skolpeng). And the free schools must adhere to the national curriculum set by the Agency for Education (skolverket). So it's not a free market. There's lots of regulation.

[@harry24798]

@@WhiteRussianBC As I wrote, it is a pro-competition free choice model, not a free market. All countries have regulations on education. I was referring to how they choose to deliver the service, which i think is excellent.

[@WhiteRussianBC]

@@harry24798 Ok. The "free choice" model was introduced in the 90's, but it has faced criticism due to increasing school segregation. The leftist party wants to get rid of it completely. The majority of teachers are also against it, according to a survey.

[@gabbar51ngh]

Singapore and Hong Kong have higher per capita GDP. Much better model.

[@Shinobu553]

It’s actually fun how people in the comments state “facts” without even giving out reliable sources

[@TheCrazierz]

Dude trust me

[@johnniemikhail4675]

@@TheCrazierz i heared it from a taxi driver that I trust.

[@jeppep95]

You are really understating how much we pay in straight redistribution, its like 30 percent of all taxes

[@johnjester6288]

Sweden or canada is the better in salaries and saving money for a single guy after the basic month expenses example [ drink , eat , rent , transport , internet ] and after taking a tax from salary ( take into consideration that the work in a restaurant or any casual works and work full time and over time ) overall in the end which is better for saving more money ????

[@fivetynine]

Oh and we can bring snacks to the movie theatre and chollage pays you to attend.

[@jamsbong]

In the USA, both education and healthcare are ridiculously expensive. Long story short, there are too much corruption and they are too powerful to bring to justice. The question should not be about high taxes with better government service vs low taxes with less government service. The proper question is how to address this runaway prices in education and healthcare in USA.

[@blhtml]

Ja the American model would be more acceptable if they could remove all the corruption ACA is not like the Swedish model but if you could pay a reasonable amount then it's up to you if you like have a ACA insurance or not

[@tamratbefekadu6549]

I currently live in Sweden, and my experience is, if you are planning to have a family, Sweden is the best country. You will get the most out of your tax payment through education, child support, health care, and daycare. However, if you are single and not planning to have a child, I think you can better off by residing elsewhere. Don't get me misconstrued; you still get an education, health, and unemployment benefits. But if you are in a demanding profession (computer science, IT, Software Engineering, Nurse, Medical doctor, etc), you have a high probability to get more remuneration after-tax in other countries.

[@phoenix5054]

How are taxes related to leave programs?

[@swissarmyknife7670]

CNBC: Sweden! (Plays traditional swiss music in the back ground)

[@andredingstertsao]

I thought it’s common sense that taxes shall be spent on people if they are paid by people. I guess the USA is missing out on something.

[@coolbeans6148]

Our government is horribly inefficient. Are taxes are still high and we have 26 trillion in debt with nothing to show for it.

[@themetricsystem7967]

@@jacklan4103 especially not americans

[@nonmagicmike723]

1. The USA spends more on education per capita than any other country. And we don't tax (loot) or citizens this much to get this money. 2. Why no mention of the 1990s privatizations and tax/spending cuts in Sweden? 3. Sweden was 6th in the world in GDP per capita in the 1960s (it fell down the ranks). 4. Why no mention of Sweden's lower levels of regulation and government control? (no minimum wage, school choice, partially privatized social security, etc.) This greatly contributes to allowing the market to breathe and be productive. 5. Sweden's tax system is rich-friendly. I doubt our lefties would very much like that. If about half the tax revenue comes from the value-added tax, then that means Swedish taxation is very close to flat. Not to mention their top income tax bracket kicks in at a pretty low rate.

[@antonartemenko2927]

Thank you for the video! I didn't know that Spotify, Minecraft and Candy Crush are created in Sweden! Now I know it's not only IKEA, Volvo and Skype.

[@thewhat531]

Skype was Danish though

[@siddharthtripathi5806]

Skype is Estonian.

[@DavidantonioRR]

Skype was founded by a swede and a dane

[@Guycodeacademypage]

Top-rated health care in Sweden? LOL. My uncle has lived there his ENTIRE life and the wait to see a specialist can take months; there have been occasions when he has paid his own way just so he or my aunt could receive medical care in a realistic time frame.

[@Guycodeacademypage]

@Just another Bird That's what health insurance and making healthy choices are for. That drastically cuts the risk of having issues.

[@Guycodeacademypage]

@Unicode UTF-8 Name I live in America, so I'm going to have to shut you down on that one. Also, genetic issues account for a small percentage of health issues. For example, the vast majority of cancers are created NOT genetic but are lifestyle and/or environmental. Healthy choices are a major indicator of disease risk.

[@rogergoldberg1545]

If his business isn't really that urgent then he might have to wait a little, yeah.

[@Guycodeacademypage]

@@rogergoldberg1545 A little? lol.

[@garrettgould4406]

this sounds so nice, pay some higher taxes but have almost all basic necessities taken care of...sign me up

[@danhostetler1423]

So ultimately Sweden has taken the employer and employee contributions that go into the void of benefit insurances and collects them as taxes. Then provides the services that the taxes pay for with fewer middlemen at a more efficient cost to the tax payers taking care of most needs. So the take home they have is really what they have for food, housing, transportation and entertainment. Looking at my pay stub on the contributions based on my base salary of 65k plus the employer required contributions (social security & medicare matching and Healthcare Plan cost) to employ me. Currently There is already a 37.72% tax wedge. I'm not including my 401k or life insurance as I didn't catch those mentioned in the video so those are still coming out after that wedge before take home. Which is kind of misleading considering my take home is actually 55% and after house, care, student loans and personal loan and monthly utility bills, etc. My disposable income for food, entertainment and travel is roughly 7% of my salary. Yeah in about 5 years when my loans are paid off that grows drastically, but I think I'm pretty average in the financial situation most Americans are out of college and it takes a decade before the bills are paid off where we have full disposable income. But, it doesn't really seem like there is much of a difference in what is going on as far as out of pocket cost between myself and the average Swedish employee. The biggest difference is the fact that most of the funds I pay goes to a bureaucracy and middle men all taking a very large chunk with no accountability or book public keeping to prevent abuse and overcharges to the systems that those funds go into. I've pointed out on different videos and on twitter threads that healthcare and medicare contributions for myself. Costs almost $11k between myself and my employer before insurance touches a single penny on my bills. That is an insane amount of money lost into a void before I get any high level of care beyond basic shots and checkups. Which often don't even require $500 annually. So more than 90% of what I effectively pay for never comes to me, which is a massive massive loss to the tax payer under the ACA because it forces people to pay into middleman after middleman all taking a share before the hospital gets paid. The hospital overcharges to try and get a better negotiated price which hurts people without insurance because the billing is based on consumers never seeing the bill for these outrageous charges. The sickening thing is that most people don't know that the ACA has to backend fund the insurances to cover preexisting conditions via other taxes collected which is not measurable for an individual level. So it is even more than what I have calculated already. We also don't need "free college education". We need better public education that prepares children to be adults, which has fallen off drastically to leaving 18+ year olds highly dependent on their parents and social hand outs instead of knowing how to get basic job skills, pay taxes, have a monthly or weekly budget. College is meant to be a focused education on a skill or study that can be leveraged in a career. Now it's a high school replacement and doesn't even give the skills needed for that area of study the graduating student can pick up in the job force without additional training. This defeated the purpose of a college degree being a requirement for a job. The degree was meant to signify the graduate already had the training and needed skills and didn't require more training to take on the job. My father went through a 2 year trade school for a position that now students have to go through a masters program for the exact same education the 2 year trade school gave over 30 years ago. So before there is "Free college" there needs to be fix for this massive gap that has grown in education. I also think schools should be taxed 100% on all profits made from sports to discourage the push for funding sports over the actual curriculum of the students and the continued cuts in programs like art and music. They can have sports and sporting events and take what they need from revenues for equipment, travel and staffing. But if the profits don't fund academia directly there after gets taken away from school.

[@angelic8632002]

Right tool for the job. Put simply. Private enterprise is good for some things and public ownership for other, like healthcare and school. Size alone gives the Swedish state quite a big leverage when contracting services and buying in meds, that are then further dumped in price for the end user, depending on their social status. The elderly for example get many different benefits since their pensions where set during periods of heavy growth in the past, but not nessesarily decent wages. There is a lot more I could add here but I think you get the idea. Oh and I'm am Swedish btw. In case that's important to you.

[@Arcadiez]

And we got 6 weeks vacation a year :o

[@aldovirooo]

Proud to be a Swede 🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪

[@mikkokivisto4414]

Hälsningar från Finland!

[@Nico-zw9ud]

That's racist!

[@MehmetlerMehmedi]

@@Nico-zw9ud is that sarcasm?

[@pietasveritas1926]

@@Nico-zw9ud 😂😂😂

[@TylerSolvestri]

@@MehmetlerMehmedi There people that think being proud of their country is racist...

[@jamesknight3097]

Sweeden has a 21% corporate tax rate...that's what trump lowered it to in the us. Interesting

[@goodwolf866]

How does 23k post tax translate into housing, clothing, holiday, food, etc.?

[@luckyrhino]

Basically it has low corporate taxes and high income taxes on individuals and a high vat tax. Tax burden is on the people not business.

[@chuckruckus3648]

Shh LEFTYS can’t hear truth

[@alexjones7845]

So, that sounds far worse for the average citizen then...

[@lukasl6908]

@@alexjones7845 in the end what you pay for is a very generous welfare system. I believe that the Swedish people get more in their pockets when they not have to pay health insurances, save money for college etc etc.

[@anyanyanyanyanyany3551]

@@alexjones7845 it all comes down to how that money is being spent. The reason why this system won't work in the US is because taxpayers' money are squandered on illegal immigrants and other bloated useless welfare programs

[@coopsnz1]

Who profit off purchase taxes the government not business

[@1Anime4you]

Correction: Sweden's population has exceeded 10 million since at least 2017 (if not as early as 2016). Those statistics come straight from the Swedish Central Statistics Bureau, whose job it is to keep track of national statistics like these.

[@FoodRecipes108]

Lol 10 mn is nothing

[@leonardk6967]

Why do CNBC have our old curency in the video?

[@patx_game4318]

78k usd a year is very high in Sweden and then you pay extra wealth bases taxes most people dont pay.

[@Andrew-md1to]

They make 78k$ and are only left over with 23,634$?!?!?! 70% dedications, This is crazy!!!!! In Germany it’s about 1/3. Even this is a lot! Employed? No thanks. With a own business I have more control to keep more money!

[@GeneralBlackNorway]

That calculation is wrong, that's not how you calculate marginal tax rates...

[@TAEYYO]

Okay yeah I saw that too and was like "WTF?". This needs to be explained better, because by the looks of it, this would seriously screw low-income citizens!

[@Andrew-md1to]

@@olzhask.6130 but still 70% deductions. its not just taxes, its taxes, benefits and contributions. the crazy thing is, that it gets deduct per percentage. the more you earn, the more you pay.

[@Andrew-md1to]

@@GeneralBlackNorway what is wrong? its not just tax. its taxes, contributions and benefits. 70% all together as they said in the video. the more you earn, the more you pay. im from Germany. here gets about 1/3 deduct. taxes, health insurance unemployed insurance, retirement plan, etc included in the 1/3 salary deduction.

[@tracycove257]

Most of Swedish companies are moving jobs to East European countries - Poland, Hungary and more and more to India and China. Because of high salaries in Sweden and also because of high taxes

[@tech8222]

Same story in most 1st world countries actually. Even when Trump was in office, jobs were still flooding from the USA to China and such.

[@mdotman]

Does anybody here know the tax that would need to be paid on earnings from stocks and shares in Sweden?

[@user-ig1bp7jb6z]

The people that wants to raise taxes to support social services are the very same people who are misappropriating such funds; that is, our government. Also, the Nordic model functions because, in the case of Sweden for example, it is a homogeneous society. They do support their own people. They do not have millions of people per year who show up in their country to be taken care of. Besides, money doesn’t grown on trees particularly here in the U.S.A. And, it is a fact that many undocumented arrive here, not because they’re suffering persecution, but because they have families with no means of support.

[@jagdishghimire6172]

Mark Zukerberg has left the chat🤣

[@sanjeevghosh7653]

They are lucky they don't have to spend high on defence 🙏

[@rikt1541]

how much to pay for the tax cut of the rich? and defence? can you pls make an article about that?

[@drakebudasz8837]

rik t tax cuts would benefit lower wage workers more so considering they have bills to pay

[@joepewald5544]

Why is the shot at 1:40 showing a scene of Amsterdam?

[@raileon]

because they probably just bought stock footage from Europe and didnt really care too much about where exactly this footage was shot.

[@GhostStealth590]

Considering most of the taxes on the ballots during the midterms was to increase spending on the police highway patrol, even though they are more than sustainable rn in our small ass county, the funds are not managed accordingly.

[@draneym2003]

Amazing how much you can accomplish when you don't spend all your money on endless wars

[@JamesMc.]

I was hoping you'd cover the absolutely ridiculous depreciation of the SEK currency more. Its quite a big deal to lose more than 40% of your home currencies value in the last 5 years.

[@ericlarsson2856]

Well im very sure the company income taxation lays at 41%

[@onetwothree4148]

Sweden: totally unprogressive taxation and low corporate taxes.

[@albinjohnsson2511]

False. The income tax is very progressive. The more you earn the higher percentage you pay.

[@onetwothree4148]

@@albinjohnsson2511 Sweden's tax bracket is much less progressive than much of Europe, or countries like the US or Canada. Sweden has consistently lowered its tax brackets and they completely eliminated their top tax bracket. Even with the 15% rise of the Swedish Krona to the US dollar, the top tax bracket in Sweden is only $81k USD (was only about $70k USD at the beginning of 2020). Every one who makes more than that pays the same percentage. Swedish taxes are high, but they are much less progressive than the US, for example, where someone who makes $600k pays almost twice the rate of someone who makes $70k.

[@ScottiPimpin]

Imagine going to college for 4 years just to take home 23k a year 🤣

[@AwesomeXavy]

but the college was free and if you get sick both your hospital care and wage are paid still..

[@ryangriffith5551]

What if I want to buy a fancy car????

[@ryangriffith5551]

And I DONT get sick.

[@ScottiPimpin]

@@HIDDENSAINT McDonald's employees make like at least 20k here which is practically getting them homeless at that point but far better here. People here want Free healthcare is because we think we won't pay for it, but we get taxed for it. Sales Tax alone is 8.5% where I live and that doesn't include the stuff that comes from my paycheck. People just want free stuff without working for it.

[@Ikajo]

@@ScottiPimpin McDonald's in Sweden has to pay their workers more. Housing isn't nearly as expensive as in the US even if it can become high in central Stockholm. There are government programs in place to help people who doesn't make enough money to survive on their own.

[@darwincity]

It's even more than that. Sweden may have a high level of personal taxation, but it does provide a wide range of public services and a safety net for its population ON TOP of sensible budgetary management, which has delivered fifteen surplus budgets since 1994 and a debt/GDP ratio that has fallen from 70%-of-GDP to 33% last year. Sounds budgetary policies benefits from a bipartisan consensus, so there is no chance of a sudden change of course.

[@Dumlen]

726 000? Why suggest a directors salary?

[@derekelkins2428]

Skype was started and created in Estonia. There were Swedes involved but Skype is an Estonian start up.

[@kavinsky2]

No, the estonians are the ones that were only involved. The business and idea was created by a Swede and a Dane, three estonians coded the software. It's a swedish startup.

[@ipamaj1gt573]

I live in Denmark (DK) and if it wasn’t for the rich me (I) and a ton of other people (most of the population) wouldn’t be able to go to school, hospital etc. I’m glad that we got this, people actually pays. Is just don’t be greedy for a couple of millions witch is just gonna sit in your bank account.

[@TheJonasbz]

The big part of the foundation that makes schools universitys and hospitals to be free are of couse not paid by the rich, its paid by the middle class. That goes for every country

[@abdiyusuf8561]

Cut the military budget and its done, no need to increase taxes

[@Gallosdepeleasdominicanos]

I think that if government take 99.9 of your income people will work more and be happy imaging all the. Beautiful services you can get at the RMV

[@MrWhymedude]

this doesn't affect the 1% because their money is in real estate or stocks they cash out through different tax system -> capital gains tax or coporate tax.

[@michaelkregnes9119]

Not beeing mean to our neighbour sweeden, but Norway has way higher Tax again. The Tax is so high Norwegians go to sweeden to buy groceries on a regular basis for those who lives along the border.

[@sondrejohansen48]

Mækkel Montages yeah we Swedes know very well how you Norwegians love coming across our border and visit Systembolaget😂😂

[@michaelkregnes9119]

Sondre Johansen unfortunately i live in Bergen which is at the west coast so i can't Get to sweeden on a regular basis :/

[@sondrejohansen48]

Mækkel Montages that’s really cool, I really wanna go to Bergen one day! I had been to Oslo, Larvik, Sandefjord, Alesund and Trondheim! Anyway you guys have so many DJs popping up from there so that’s cool haha! I am from the opposite end of you, Stockholm, so Norway is also pretty far. I take flights most of the time. It’s indeed quite expensive, everything especially food cost substantially more whenever I am in Oslo. It would seem it has to be cheaper considering Norway literally has a huge investment arm amounting to €3 trillion and a handy oil money business but it is quite the opposite lol. But then again I don’t think it’s that bad, we are all way better condition then most other countries so at the end of the day as long as it’s sustainable, there isn’t much negative. Maybe on a long run there needs to be something done for lower middle class people as the taxes in both countries seem to effect them quite a bit, a better government support to them would be something I would appreciate. That way the kinks in the current tax system in both countries could be refined further

[@danielcarroll3358]

Interesting. There are regular bus runs to Canada so elderly Americans can buy medicines at affordable prices.

[@shauncameron8390]

@@danielcarroll3358 Actually, more Canadians travel to America for healthcare than vice versa.

[@vincentrevote4979]

No corrupt government officials of course

[@tphan]

The efficiency of its people and its government runs the country.

[@Drachnon]

5:52 I think you mean tax krona.

[@robertpecheur6602]

Sweden does not have high taxes, Sweden have high taxes on wages. As said in the video there are no taxes on wealth, capital, property, no heritance tax, no gift tax, and in reality virtually no capital gains tax. Bigger companies can negotiate their corporate tax. So although Sweden seem to pride itself for their high taxes this apply mainly for wage work.

[@shauncameron8390]

Plus, Sweden doesn't have a minimum wage.

[@BicyclesMayUseFullLane]

@Harry Lagom Yeah... trade unions... About that... Too bad we in North America basically broke their back years ago. Shareholder profits comes before worker safety, you know.

[@mortis3745]

CNBC seems to get the taxing wrong. At least in Norway, the tax rates increase for the next krone you earn as you earn more. Earnings in NOK and taxrate applies to those particular earnings in percent: 0 - 54.650 0,00% 54.651 - 81.324 25,00% 81.325 - 102.818 8,20% 102.819 - 174.500 20,30% 174.501 - 224.000 22,20% 224.001 - 245.650 32,10% 245.651 - 617.500 34,40% 617.501 - 964.800 43,40% 964.800+ 46,40% If you earn 1 million NOK (117 462 U.S. dollars) you pay 335 899 NOK (39 455.3683 U.S. dollars), or 33.59% in taxes. The rates for VAT etc. are quite high though. In addition there are other taxes, as well as things that reduce your taxes, such as having a housing loan. Roughly 80% of Norwegians own their own home as a consequence. Sources are in Norwegian. www.regjeringen.no/no/tema/okonomi-og-budsjett/skatter-og-avgifter/skattesatser-2019/id2614444/ www.smartepenger.no/skatt/635-marginalskatt-pa-lonnsinntekter skattekalkulator.app.skatteetaten.no/

[@mortis3745]

Free healthcare, education and a lot of vacation in return, while having some of the highest average wages, lowest rates of inequality and highest GDP per capita in the world. (Norway is slightly ahead of its nordic neighbours due to oil, the revenue from which is stored in a fund investing mostly in foreign stocks, now owning more than 1.5% of all global stocks)

[@user-wp8yx]

Wow. My small business in the US actually pays more in taxes than Scandinavians. This certainly explains my crappy attitude.

[@piperpilot679]

1:43 funny when they mention Sweden but that picture is actually in Amsterdam LOL

[@Tommy-oj4hd]

How can the 61,85% extortion on your productivity be a good thing regardless of where that many goes?

[@henriklarsson5221]

They have those numbers wrong. With a normal salary you pay around 30% income tax. There is a 25% VAT on all goods tough, and high taxes on alcohol, cigarettes and gas for example. But, Sweden has a payroll tax of ~31%. That's a tax the employer have to pay to the government, in addition to your salary. It covers pensions and a couple of other things. And you as an employee don´t see that. That is probably where they find that number. So a person earning lets say 50k a year would roughly get 35k out. Not 19k!

[@albinjohnsson2511]

Because some people, by no fault of their own, would literally die without redistribution? It's not that hard to grasp. There are also more selfish reasons to favor distribution since it simply makes for a nicer society (less crime, better-educated public, better average health, etc). Things like infrastructure, security, power, encouragement, good schooling, rich parents, and possibilities are not equally distributed. To be rich you first have to have a certain amount of luck. How any thinking person can fail to fathom this is beyond me. It's also beyond me how anyone could be fine with a couple of extremely lucky billionaires hoarding extreme amounts of wealth while other people - real living human beings with hopes and dreams - die of easily preventable disease and starvation.

[@Tommy-oj4hd]

​@@albinjohnsson2511 It's hard to disagree with some of your points, but you take really idealistic view of socialist society. The biggest mistake you make is you assume that those "extremely lucky billionaires hoarding extreme amounts of wealth " are going to pay those 61,85%. Nope, it's the middle class who is going to take the hit and the healthiest society is where the middle class can thrive, giving jobs to low income workers (which in my opinion shall have really low tax burden). Also death is part of a human nature. I believe that anyone shall be entitled to healthcare and curation of diseases (which may be costly), but in practical terms there is a limit how you can help or in other words whether it's worth it to invest e.g. $500k into giving someone few more years to live. It's sad, yet it's nature... and I don't think you need 61,85% tax in order to provide fair healthcare service to anyone.

[@JarKo880]

Like it or not you will pay for education & healthcare. No matter if through taxes or directly. In the end this will be right pocket vs left pocket type of situation but you will pay. The question is how to spend this money effectively?

[@dlewis8405]

I have been hearing comparisons between European systems and the American one for decades. Advocates of more taxes/better services here seem to figure that “if it works there it will work here”. But every system of taxes is the result of years of trial and error, push and pull, with lots of pitfalls along the way.