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Income is also a lot higher in NJ/NY/CT than Sweden, and Sweden has a 25% VAT. Saying, well, these states that are notorious for property taxes have higher property taxes than Sweden so therefore are a worse tax environment is kind of intellectually dishonest.
Also, on reading the wikipedia entry on Swedish taxation and having made below, at, and above the average income in NJ & NY it's pretty clear that as much as those states tax you out the wazoo you're still better off than in Sweden. That VAT is insane. Once you get even a little above average (~60K, which is actually somewhat below average for a household in the NYC 'burbs) Sweden charges a 51% tax, then you lose another 25% VAT when buying stuff, keeping only 36.75% on the margin. Even in NYC proper things aren't nearly that bad.....and at $80K it gets even worse at the margins. Did you not do any quantitative research or did you do it and assume no one else would?
edit: wow reading a bit more at the lower middle income things get even uglier. Everyone pays that VAT and Sweden's 31% rate kicks in at only like $3K USD. Thats way more regressive than what we have here in addition to being way higher.
Wages in Sweden are much higher for those working at non-skilled jobs and everyone has the benefits and health care. If you got rid of the wealthy top 1% from that list, income per capita is higher in Sweden actually and keep in mind that rents are cheaper in Sweden than in the tri-state region. I have friends and family living in Sweden and I know the country very well. VAT is 25% but certain things such as food it is reduced to 12 or 13% and already included on the price tag. Most grocery food is cheaper in Sweden too, and you can still find bargain if you shop at H&M and other stores. Sweden has extremely low property taxes. Colleges is free, as is health care and day care is ultra cheap. This is where most of the money is spent by many Americans.
Most Swedes pay 30% income tax while people in the tri-state area may pay higher than that.
Of course, even as conservatives are derping about bootstraps and small businesses and such, liberals will ignore the elephant in the room: demographics. Swedish economics are simply not viable in this idiocratic low-trust tower of babel.
It's also "common knowledge" that the Japanese people are hard working and that Greeks are lazy, but hey, Japapese work lower hours per worker per year than we do; and we in turn work way less than people in Greece. https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=ANHRS
Not saying you're wrong (because you're not on this), but making quantitative statements on the basis of "common knowledge" is setting yourself up to be wrong embarrassingly often.
The work week in Scandinavian countries is shorter. I don't need to google that.
The Earth rotates around the sun, I do not need to google that either.
Socialist Sweden's answer to chronic, intractable underemployment? Shorten the work week.
Problem solved. The nanny state's there for you if besieged private businesses are bled dry by it. You didn't need that work anyway.
Like Brixton, like the Paris suburbs, organized street violence by the large body of hopelessly unemployed caused by socialist policy continues unabated for over half a century.
Did you miss the thread on this same topic just below?
Did you miss mine, 'fiscal conservative' Bluefly?
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Sweden moves towards 6-hour work day!
