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Is it really higher in the US after you calculate the numerous ways Americans are taxed, especially those that actually pay taxes?
Their Top Marginal Tax Rate for individuals is over 55%.
Their Top Corporate Income Tax Rate is 22%-25%, depending on the data I found.
Their Capital Gains Tax Rate is 42% (highest in Europe.)
Their Standard VAT Rate (kind of like sales tax) is 25%.
The base property taxes on an average home ($345k value) is about $3,100/year, which is less than many areas in the US (unless there are tax limits, like in California under Prop 13.)
I read that overall, the tax scheme in Denmark discourages savings, as their are wealth penalties of all kinds. This makes sense, since they need the money to fund all their socialism.
Also, I wonder how much of that $22/hr goes to pay the health care benefits that McDonald's doesn't provide in Demark.
I consider health care benefits to be just as important and 6 weeks vacation and all the rest.
If the employers in these European countries were reimbursing the state for the cost of health care coverage, thereby saving workers the cost of maintaining an alternative to employer-provided healthcare, we might have a more accurate comparison.
As it stands, we have employees in Europe effectively covering the cost of employee healthcare for the financial benefit of employers with no mention of what is effectively a worker tax by the people spouting off about $22/hr.
You would never get major technological leaps living there. Like most socialist countries they rely on both the capitalist (USA) and the cheap labor countries (China,etc) to import much of what they take for granted. Plus are they not a major oil exporter? Plus they live more minimalist there and have tighter immigration. They don't slave away to spend $75,000 on a truck with heated steering wheels to haul a couch once a year.
Where I work people abuse FMLA to get time off. I'm all for a higher base wage, but I'm not for akk these extra ways for people to get out of working. Everyone should get equal levels of paid leave and unpaid leave for other things. Learn to save money and budget. Our company foolishly pays people for FMLA.
Then they complain we don't want to work overtime or that high priority machines have lots of downtime. No, we don't want to live there. I am a minimalist. I'd probably like it in Norway to be honest....but again Norway couldn't exist in a bubble. If world war broke out and they had to defend themselves against X country, good luck.
Progressives have forgotten we are animals...they don't understand our nature and think we are destined to live into an era of enlightenment.... Not by handing out free stuff to everyone and going soft on crime. Not when rent and real estate costs are so high and the wealthy are hoarding assets. Work and discomfort are still needed to make a civilization function and the working class tend to resent supporting a large parasite class (the top and bottom)
$22 an hour plus full benefits to flip burgers? How much expensive is it to eat in Denmark? This min. wage topic is really stupid and disingenuous since only 1.9% of all hourly paid, non-self-employed workers, earned wages at or below the federal minimum wage (add the people that get tips). The number of federal minimum wage workers has decreased from 7.7 million in 1980 to 1.6 million.
The average net monthly salary in the U.S. is 64% higher than Denmark. Local purchasing power in the U.S. is 76% higher than Denmark.
Gasoline is $8 in Denmark. Volkswagen Golf 1.4 90 KW Trendline (Or Equivalent New Car) is 38k Denmark while is 27k in the U.S. Toyota Corolla Sedan 1.6l 97kW Comfort (Or Equivalent New Car) is 37k in Denmark while is 23.5k in the U.S.
So you earn less in Denmark, pay more for items and services and pay more taxes. What's the catch? What is the government offering that is worth the cost??????
You spend less of your life at work and you won't be bankrupt or homeless if you get seriously sick or lose your job.
What percentage of American workers are paid slightly above federal minimum wage but less than 15? It's somewhat meaningless to say most workers aren't working for minimum wage if a large percentage are making barely more.
Denmark has one of the highest standards of living around. As others have mentioned, high taxes is one reason. Low unemployment. That means its citizens are WORKING and contributing, not taking and looking for handouts.
They also have laws in place that aren't exactly the most immigrant friendly. I have heard people from other countries like Canada complain that immigration can bring about people that want handouts and could lead to social benefits being scaled back. Denmark doesn't have such a problem. Danes are not a group that leaves the country to go elsewhere to find work, etc. They have no reason to and if they do, they are well compensated, and usually still have a home in Denmark.
I believe it - it boils down to upbringing and different life goals. American mentality is just too different to feel comfortable living in the Nordics.
In particular these are Nordic inconveniences:
Few conveniences …. Like going to target at 9pm for last minute laundry detergent , delicate old building door is broken , going to Home Depot in the US… Sweden this inconvenience is a bit drawn out…. You must wait till the next day . Things shut down at night except the nightlife in Stockholm but that doesn’t include convenience buying
Rushing in and out in a hurry not a thing in Nordic countries …. Plan plan plan
White noise or AC units all that …. Forget that
Smaller accommodations smaller food portions ….. squeaky hardwood floors … wait times for things , reserved people ….kind but nobody will greet you unless you need something they will help you. Culture adjustment
And nobody sleeps in queen or king size beds except very expensive hotel suites accommodating mostly American visitors
This is absolutely true. A year or two ago I read Danes were the happiest people in the world.
They believe in "community" - what benefits society as a whole.
We, otoh, believe in the "individual." Every man for himself. US is still a teenager in comparison to the rest of the world. European world view is very different from ours - they, after all, have a history going back over a thousand years. We, only a few hundred.
They lose big wars, while we win big wars, & bail their azzes out. If it were not for the USA, all of Europe would be poor like Russia...or worse.
They have no significant military costs, so they are vulnerable to Putin, and other bad actors....no thanks.
Also, they live in tiny homes, don't have kids until later in life because they cannot afford to, have 1 car per household, & some have no cars at all. They have much less disposable income.
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With universal healthcare and even unemployment pay for quitting even if not fired through no fault?
So quitting jobs and switching when sad in Denmark doesn’t mean needing a 9 months rainy day fund
Now I feel sad we don’t have it as good as the Danes. They also get to work only like 30 hours per week and they get paid to stay home with their kid? It sounds incredible
Yes, what you long for is perfect for those that want things for free, and sponge off the rest of society.
Denmark has fewer people than NYC. The logistics are infinitely easier.
Denmark has fewer nonfunctional people
Denmark a higher labor participation rate
Denmark has fewer useless people who wont work
Denmark does not have a constitution that guarantees the ability of its largest corps to buy the legislature.
Trying to emulate Denmark in the US will make us Greece , not Denmark.
Yes I would like to see universal Medicare, but I would also increase taxes to do it and I would use the existing structure. Your ideas create whole new untested structures.
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