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I think too many Americans misunderstand Nordic countries like Denmark,Sweden and Norway. Yes these countries practice socialism to varying degrees(like the U.S) but it's an over simplification of these countries for Americans to view them as "Socialist countries".
Here's what some at the Cato Institute have said:
No one cares what some academic labels nordic countries!
What's underreported is how expensive child care is in America. Its normal to pay $20k per child per year for child care. In civilized countries, they realize that we live in the 21st century, where both mom and dad work and high quality child care is considered as important as k-12 education and is funded by the public.
The problem is when our liberals say we should be more like Sweden they never mention lowering corporate taxes.
Yes, the statutory U.S. rate is higher but there are so many deductions that companies often pay low actual tax-rates.
In Sweden, the current Corporate Tax Rate is 22% but was 60.10 percent.
You also can't view this is a vacuum. The Personal Income Tax Rate is 56.90 percent and the Sales Tax Rate is 25 percent.
They also have a Social Security Rate of 7% for individuals and a Social Security Rate For Companies of 31.42 percent.
The taxes are high but the citizens do not have to spend money on insurance premiums, copays, and deductibles. They also get free a university education, a very short work week, and much more leisure time, days off, vacation, etc.
I understand you like that type of a system. Tell my why NONE of the Democrat candidates is running on a platform that would implement European/Scandinavian-style regressive tax systems to give you that?
Again, European and Scandinavian countries have the only proven successful way to raise enough revenue to provide more benefits to more people: regressive tax systems.
All taxes are progressive by nature as what you pay into the system is dependent on how much you earn. Privatized services are by nature NOT progressive as the rich man and the poor old widow pay the same price for the same service.
Norway: $499,667,000
City of Los Angeles: $765,759,000
Denmark: $314,889,000
City of Boston: $336,232,000
Sweden: $523,804,000
City of Chicago: $571,000,000
Finland: $247,389,000
City of Atlanta: $294,589,000
Without comparative populations, your numbers lack context. Ultimately, you do have a good point. The EU's population is more than double the USA. The EU and USA have roughly equal GDP's. Per capita, the USA works harder and gets more done.
While that is quite interesting, I don't think it's relevant to the discussion. The USA and EU are the biggest Capitalistic heavy hitters on the planet. The OP was saying that they're not Socialists (by which they actually mean non-Communist apparently.) The OP is right. They're not Communist states.
Interestingly, Scandinavian countries have high corporate taxes and no property taxes on primary residence. Property taxes are seen as government intervention of the most sacred place, your own home, which you should be able to own for yourself, not simply rent from the government by paying property taxes no matter your income. Schools are funded by income and sales taxes to ensure that every child get a good education regardless of where they live and the income of their parents.
Without comparative populations, your numbers lack context. Ultimately, you do have a good point. The EU's population is more than double the USA. The EU and USA have roughly equal GDP's. Per capita, the USA works harder and gets more done.
While that is quite interesting, I don't think it's relevant to the discussion. The USA and EU are the biggest Capitalistic heavy hitters on the planet. The OP was saying that they're not Socialists (by which they actually mean non-Communist apparently.) The OP is right. They're not Communist states.
The EU's population (which is always expanding because of all the much poorer former communist countries they bring in) is 500m. The US is 320m. The higher GDP per capita of the US compared to Northern Europe can simply be explained by the much shorter annual hours worked in those countries. Months long vacations and family leave to improve family connections, health and well-being is considered sacred.
I think too many Americans misunderstand Nordic countries like Denmark,Sweden and Norway. Yes these countries practice socialism to varying degrees(like the U.S) but it's an over simplification of these countries for Americans to view them as "Socialist countries".
Here's what some at the Cato Institute have said:
I would agree that americans oversimplify 'socialism'
All taxes are progressive by nature as what you pay into the system is dependent on how much you earn.
Not true. Property, sales, VAT, etc., taxes are regressive. You don't pay based on your income, you pay based on what you consume. By definition, the lower one's income, the more one consumes as a percentage one's income just to meet basic needs and a few affordable wants.
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