Yet still ranks 4th in the most competitive economies in the world
Politics - 13 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Sweden? LOL Have fun there.
2 :
Because they are not whiny cry babies. We here in the US are.
3 :
Because they get it.
4 :
Perhaps you should read up on how compensation works in Sweden. Due to the confiscatory taxes, anyone with marketable skills asks for non-taxable perks, such as use of a car, housing subsidized by the employer, etc...
5 :
Quality of life, I would say. They pay a lot in taxes but they get a lot for it. Without worries about how to pay for health care, education, child care and a host of other services, they are free to live their lives, enjoy their free time and not be afflicted by stress like Americans.
6 :
Really? lol, ask them about it, they are not so happy. They don't rank 4th either. You have no earthly idea what the heck you are talking about.
7 :
There culture is much different. They aren't spoiled. They work hard because they don't just care about themselves but about their country. Swedes are bred to work hard. Their happy to pay tax because they get quality education and quality public services.
8 :
People share a common tendency to be good and understand what is good for one is good for the common good. Greed and thievery is tempered by the longer term management of social and economic imperatives. The Swedes are obviously smarter and more educated than the average American corporate whore.
9 :
How do you get a Swede to jump off a cliff? Line meatballs up to the edge!
10 :
Sweden has 32 paid vacation days per year.
11 :
Most people work hard for a better life for themselves & those they love. I wouldn't call that greed. As for Sweden i don't know. There are only 9 million people there. And they all seem to be from pretty much the same background. That can make it easier to run a government & agree on things. And with Sweden a part of the EU now. If they don't like Sweden they can work elsewhere with in the EU. Not sure how that affects their taxes but they don't have to be stuck in Sweden if they don't want too.
12 :
Happy? Check this out: A bursting real estate bubble caused by inadequate controls on lending combined with an international recession and a policy switch from anti-unemployment policies to anti-inflationary policies resulted in a fiscal crisis in the early 1990s. In 1992, there was a run on the currency, with the central bank briefly jacking up interest to 500%. The response of the government was to cut spending and institute a multitude of reforms to improve Sweden's competitiveness, among them reducing the welfare state and privatizing public services and goods. ************************************ sound familiar at all? ************************************ Since the late 1960s, Sweden has had the highest tax quota (as percentage of GDP) in the industrialized world, although today the gap has narrowed and Denmark has surpassed Sweden as the most heavily taxed country among developed countries. Sweden has a two step progressive tax scale with a municipal income tax of about 30% and an additional high-income state tax of 20รข€“25% when a salary exceeds roughly 320,000 SEK per year. Payroll taxes amount to 32%. In addition, a national VAT of 25% is added to many things bought by private citizens, with the exception of food (12% VAT), transportation, and books (6% VAT). *************************************** VAT anyone? *************************************** Eighty percent of the workforce is organized through the trade-unions Sweden have a relatively high amount of sick leave per worker in OECD: the average worker loses 24 days due to sickness. Now that's a LOT of sick! 5 weeks a year? Happy? Doubtful they are that happy. Between Jake's stat on paid vacation days, and this stat for sick days, that's almost 3 months out of the year these bums do not have to work! lol Having 60% of my income taken from me, would stress me out. I am guessing that soon enough Sweden will go the way of Greece.
13 :
Most Swedes are content with paying their taxes because we are made aware of, or take an interest in, what we actually get out of the taxes: virtually free health care, free education including at University level, lots of foreign aid, a good welfare system, police and rescue services, a high proportion of foreign aid and a very low proportion of defence and armed forces costs. There are probably other innumerable things I've forgotten to mention. If you're a wage earner, you can't do much to avoid paying taxes, and you probably won't want to work more than 40 hours/week even if you could, because you wouldn't have time to enjoy life. Businesses and the self-employed may be more motivated by greed, and they are also the ones with the most opportunities to cheat. With the ridiculously high tax rates of the 70s, everyone but the poor wanted to avoid or evade taxes, legally or otherwise, but things have changed, and with a reformed tax system and a few years of conservative rule, only a small number of extremely wealthy Swedes need go into tax exile. The general idea now is that it should be worth your while making money, and the tax rate should be bearable. That way, people will be less likely to try and cheat and more willing to pay their taxes, and the economy will improve. What do you hope to gain by posting exactly the same question twice in two days? OK, it saved me saying it all again, I just copied my previous answer...
