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Yes, yes they do and in particular Northern Europe. My ancesterial homelands Norway and Sweden usually top the lists for all things great "over there" compared to how horrible it is "over here".
The main problem, however, is that there are lots and lots of people "over there" who look like me and my wife and kids. Some might call it a "majority".
Are you willing to pay the taxes required for that? Lower- and middle-income earners bear the highest tax burdens in those countries.
I've posted links to European countries' tax info in these two posts:
And...
I'm more than willing to pay the taxes...but your assertion is dubious at best and is derived from a Northwestern study that is very narrow in its approach, has been called misleading by other academics, and furthermore contradicts your assertion when it takes a large scale perspective. It also concerns income tax and does not include items like the wealth tax popular in Scandinavian countries.
Furthermore, whether or not wikipedia is a good source can be debated, but the wikipedia source you just used showed all six countries listed having progressive rates. Rates increased as income increased.
The reason why Scandinavian countries appear to be regressive in the study is the authors look at simply the national and municipal taxes.
In Norway, for example, the rate is a flat 28% for all incomes. Flat taxes are effectually regressive, particularly when you consider sales tax burden.
The study, however, did not take into account taxes such as Norway's surtax. While all incomes are taxed at a base 28%, depending on your income you will have to pay up to an additional 12%. Then up to 7.8% for social security. Then there is a wealth tax for collective assets over roughly $166,000 of 1%. Then there are myriad other taxes.
A Norwegian making $537k will pay about 12% more in taxes than in Massachusetts where the tax burden is the highest.
I'd suggest reading the entirety of the studies you quote rather than just Washington Post editorials that cherry pick portions of extensive studies that *seem* to corroborate their own personal opinions. Furthermore, I'd suggest reading the tax codes of the countries you are discussing. All of them have websites.
Serious question: Would you be ok with adopting an apprenticeship system (like in the nations you've mentioned) in the US where they separate students who can do academics from those who can't?
So - Somali journalist has an unpopular broadcast aired over the State Radio? Seems pretty free to me.
Radical elements threaten her - that happens in the US, too.
She's contradicted by other journalists - that happens in the US, too. Good thing, too.
Freedom of Speech is between the citizens and the government, and here, the government didn't just abstain from interfering, it actually provided her a taxpayer-funded platform for her broadcast.
If the Swedish government had censored her or kept her from speaking, you'd have a free speech case. But the exact opposite happened.
You do not sound like you follow world politics at all. Which West European country does not have freedom of speech in their constitution?
Germany doesn't allow 'hate speech,' insults, gossip, membership in banned political parties, insulting of faiths, and a host of other 'illegal speech.' I know most of the political correctness Nazi bullies in the US wish we had these to stop free speech here except they would want an exception to allow insulting Christians and Christianity. Germany is a great example to follow killing 60 million in WWII and shooting my Father several times at Omaha Beach and nearly starving him to death in prison camp.
Are you willing to pay the taxes required for that? Lower- and middle-income earners bear the highest tax burdens in those countries.
I've posted links to European countries' tax info in these two posts:
And...
Hi, InformedConsent.
It is important to keep in mind that many European countries have a less lopsided distribution of income, so there is more wealth in the middle. In America, it makes more sense to introduce a Wall Street speculation tax which is long overdue after the crash they were responsible for, and ask the richest to pay a little more, at least the same rate as everyone else, by lifting the cap on income subject to payroll tax for example. European countries dont have such a cap. This has broad support among Americans, according to polls. Slashing wasteful and massively bloated military spending and getting tough on corporations that hide their wealth and dont pay taxes must stop.
America is the wealthiest nation on earth, and is together with countries at the very top like Switzerland and Norway. America is in fact wealthier than Denmark. And if you look at countries like Switzerland and Norway, which are at the income level of America, their tax rates for the middle class is substantially lower than in the example you made about Denmark, but they still have excellent social services, education system and a social safety net. No one goes bankrupt when getting cancer in Switzerland, every worker get paid time off to say goodbye to a dying parent and the elderly and the blind and disabled have a better safety net.
Finally, I think most Americans can accept paying a little more in taxes once they see that the funds are invested in America for the people, not wasted on a bloated military, corporate welfare, big pharma handouts, bailouts, endless wars or a corrupt prison industrial complex that feeds off of misery. Here is a lady who I think says it quite well and articulate how I feel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZUrZ9k8HMc
Germany doesn't allow 'hate speech,' insults, gossip, membership in banned political parties, insulting of faiths, and a host of other 'illegal speech.'
"gossip"?
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killing 60 million in WWII and shooting my Father several times at Omaha Beach and nearly starving him to death in prison camp.
