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submitted 6 months ago by girlfreddy@lemmy.ca to c/world@lemmy.world

Sweden is infamous for having some of the highest taxes in the world, and yet the country's tax agency is still one of Sweden's most trusted institutions.

The Swedish attitude towards tax contrasts sharply with many countries where taxes can be a deeply divisive issue. We investigate what this says about Swedish society and how the popularity of the welfare state might survive growing challenges in the future.

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[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 253 points 6 months ago

Americans have been taught to hate taxes. They have been sold the idea that the original concept of "no taxation without representation" didn't include the latter two words. Decades of Republicans demonizing taxes have done it.

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 89 points 6 months ago

Pair that with the GOP systematically destroying public institutions by gutting public funding as much as possible while simultaneously eroding public trust. Our public education system? It used to be the best in the world until Regan and Bush I and II tore it to shreds. Same with our healthcare system. All in the name of privatization.

[-] cedarmesa@lemmy.world 80 points 6 months ago
[-] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 27 points 6 months ago

If it actually did result in republicans being crushed under a giant domino, at least we'd have that going for us.

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[-] HubertManne@kbin.social 60 points 6 months ago

well swedes also get value for their taxes. I remember one who would talk about how it drove him nuts coming across pot holes and various broken infrastructure as it would be unacceptable for it to be like that for weeks were he was from.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 78 points 6 months ago

Right, but there's a reason we don't get value for our taxes and that reason is also Republicans. Especially Reagan.

[-] HubertManne@kbin.social 15 points 6 months ago

oh yeah and we end up paying more in local taxes than any reduction we ever got on federal ones.

[-] dojan@lemmy.world 9 points 6 months ago

Yeah, re-paving happens all the time here. I visited Massachusetts back in 2019 and was shocked at the abysmal state of the roads.

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[-] someguy3@lemmy.world 43 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Nah they've been taught to hate government. Reagan finalized this with his "the scariest words you can ever hear are 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'". He defined the government and anything the government does as bad and evil. This is the whole "get government to the size you can drown it in a bathtub". This naturally goes to taxes are feeding the big evil government, so taxes are just as bad.

[-] tacosanonymous@lemm.ee 25 points 6 months ago

That and the growing unrest due to wage gaps and our taxes not benefitting our society.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 37 points 6 months ago

Which is also due to Republicans cutting all social services and resisting new ones.

[-] ArmokGoB@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 points 6 months ago

It's more like a lot of people don't feel like they are being represented. I wouldn't complain if my taxes were housing homeless people or funding space exploration, but instead they're funding 37 wars.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 27 points 6 months ago

Plenty of people would complain if their taxes were housing homeless people or funding space exploration though.

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[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 15 points 6 months ago

Exactly. We’re also taught not to see the value we receive from our tax paying. And to fear and hate the IRS (especially since we have to file our tsxes

[-] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 11 points 6 months ago

You can see it in the way they display prices in shops.

Always without taxes, to make sure the customer can blame the taxes for the high prices. Even though the tax directly relates to the cost of the product.

There is absolutely no reason why a shop couldn't show the total prices with taxes included. Because those taxes don't change daily, nor does the shop move.

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[-] DLSantini@lemmy.ml 143 points 6 months ago

Because here in America, when they take my money, it's to give away to oil companies and weapons dealers. Not to give us all health care and affordable housing.

[-] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 102 points 6 months ago

Americans actually pay more per capita towards public healthcare than most Europeans, but it just covers so much less (Medicaid and Medicare) because of insane healthcare prices.

[-] barsoap@lemm.ee 32 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Don't forget bailing out hospitals etc. when people invariably default on their medical debt. On expensive ER bills that only exist because people couldn't afford to visit a GP five years earlier and get some cheap off the shelf preventive medicine.

Also, and this really shouldn't be underestimated: Laws concerning everything from food regulations over transportation polity to sports promotion that don't take people's health into account because health is a private matter. With socialised healthcare, suddenly all those new fancy bike paths have a tangible ROI in yet another public budget (not just the transportation agency's one, that is).

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[-] Annoyed_Crabby 9 points 6 months ago

Two word to solve this: Public Healthcare.

Iinm medicaid/medicare is a government health insurance scheme that only given to selected individuals, and care is provided by private owned hospital, while Europe(and a lot of other place in the world) practice universal public healthcare, where the hospital is owned and run by government. This way, the government wouldn't get squeezed dry by the exorbitant cost of private healthcare, while at the same time wouldn't need to pick and choose who is eligible. Private hospital is there to provide value added service for people who can afford it.

[-] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 9 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

In many places in Europe, they have a so-called "treatment guarantee," which means that if the wait is longer than 30 days for non-emergency treatment and procedures referred by a doctor, you can elect treatment at the private hospital instead of a public hospital. No charge.

For emergencies, you are always treated immediately at either a public or private hospital.

E: I'm mentioning this because I've encountered a large number of uninformed Americans who always start crying about "people dying on wait-lists in Europe and Canada unlike in America." No.

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[-] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 9 points 6 months ago

55% of tax dollars in the united states goes to social programs, social security, and healthcare.

[-] jkrtn@lemmy.ml 19 points 6 months ago

I saw them give trillions of free dollars to companies that had just received three years of extremely vigorous tax cuts.

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[-] Plopp@lemmy.world 121 points 6 months ago

The Swedish tax agency is pretty well respected because they have their shit together. When it's time for us to do our taxes, we get forms sent home already filled in by the tax agency, and for most people those numbers are accurate and it takes less than a minute for us to do our taxes. Send a text message and you're done. And usually what happens is you get money back.

[-] TheFriar@lemm.ee 44 points 6 months ago

Not to mention, their taxes go to social programs and can be seen in use, improving the lives of citizens. In the US, our roads are shit, our infrastructure in general is shit, our social programs are a fuckin joke…our tax money isn’t being used for us. That’s the biggest difference.

[-] Deway@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago

It's a lot like that in Belgium and yet people still complain.

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[-] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 69 points 6 months ago

Sweden has historically been ethnically close to homogeneous (until the 20th century, life in Scandinavia was hard, and few wanted to move there) and has a relatively flat social hierarchy, meaning that redistributive taxation to fund services is popular (after all, if everyone needs a specific service, having the government provide it through taxes is an economy of scale). America, meanwhile, was founded on racial slavery, which resulted in a racial hierarchy (i.e., the definition of who counts as “white” shifting over time), and there’s a non-negligible proportion of voters who would resent being taxed extra to help lift those below them in this hierarchy closer to their level.

[-] catloaf@lemm.ee 13 points 6 months ago

Tell that to the native Sami peoples.

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[-] henfredemars@infosec.pub 55 points 6 months ago

It’s because we get so little for those taxes. If we actually had functional services, I would feel like it’s worth it.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 32 points 6 months ago

It still wouldn't for the vast number of brainwashed people who don't think beyond "the government is taking some of my paycheck!"

Because a lot of those people are the same people who say things like, "why should I have to pay for universal health care when I'm healthy?"

[-] magic_lobster_party@kbin.run 16 points 6 months ago

We’re losing that in Sweden though. Public healthcare is becoming more and more under funded. Doctors barely have time to treat patients, so they’re often sending patients home with prescribed paracetamol.

The only way to get proper healthcare nowadays is through private healthcare, if you can afford it. I know many who haven’t gotten proper healthcare until they sought private healthcare. It sucks, because it used to be great.

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[-] randomaside@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 6 months ago

"Government doesn't work, we need less government" said unironically by the person elected to run the government.

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[-] rdyoung@lemmy.world 13 points 6 months ago

We should stop voting for people who promise to dismantle said services. We also really need to move towards a basic income setup instead of having all of the hoops and paperwork for people to prove they are eligible for whatever it is. In the USA people going on disability are always denied even if they are a paraplegic. We would spend so much less money and other resources if we just made it available to everyone with no proof of eligibility needed.

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[-] minibyte@sh.itjust.works 46 points 6 months ago

When the term “That’s your tax dollars at work” doesn’t need a /s because it’s just assumed – there’s your problem.

[-] olutukko@lemmy.world 44 points 6 months ago

it's nice to pay taxes if you can actually see the benefits somewhere

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[-] jaemo@sh.itjust.works 43 points 6 months ago

Because Americans let movie stars and reality show con-men drive the train and idolize their asinine tomfoolery like it's a goddamn team sport. Garbage in garbage out. Why is this even a question, what the fuck. This shit is as obvious as hot pink wallpaper.

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[-] xenoclast@lemmy.world 40 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Pretty sure they'd be fine with it if trillions and trillions didn't disappear into military and black budgets (ie transferring money to their friends)

[-] normalexit@lemmy.world 39 points 6 months ago

As a US citizen I don't feel like I get a good ROI on my taxes. It's a small percentage of upkeep for public things, some below average public education, and a shit ton of weaponry.

[-] Crikeste@lemm.ee 21 points 6 months ago

I find it funny that people are saying “well my taxes go to things I don’t want to support like oil companies and football teams”

Meanwhile in Texas, the most tax-hating state in the US, they love oil companies and private business eating up public funds.

Ironic.

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[-] CrowAirbrush@lemmy.world 20 points 6 months ago

I never had any real issues with taxes back when groceries, rent and insurance were affordable.

The issues came to light when life started to cost 1.5 times our income, while still having to pay 40% on income and an extra 20% on expenses. I'd rather pay less taxes and eat, when taxes don't do anything. I also learned that our safety nets are a scam, they set up so many bullshit rules that when i needed it they literally went: "you have the right to receive €800 but you won't get it, no matter how hard you try". I tried for a year until i realised our money is just being stolen under the cover of "taxes".

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[-] entropicshart@sh.itjust.works 19 points 6 months ago

Maybe people wouldn’t hate taxes if they were put to good use, not squandered on shit we don’t want and corruption. We have to watch as all our taxes go to pay corrupt politicians hundreds of thousands of dollars and cover all their expenses, meanwhile this year our elementary and middle schools are getting their sports/music/art classes cut because there isn’t enough budget.

[-] xhieron@lemmy.world 18 points 6 months ago

That's a surprise. In most US schools they'll cut STEM and language and have rolling blackouts before they cut sports.

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[-] Nom@lemm.ee 15 points 6 months ago

Americans hate this one Swede trick.

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[-] cikano@lemmy.world 10 points 6 months ago

There's quite a lot of Swedes that complain about the taxes here still though, sadly enough

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[-] 11111one11111@lemmy.world 9 points 6 months ago

Its almost as though efficient utilization of tax revenue offsets the hatred of paying taxes. I just threatened my 1st cousins into pitching in $100 each to buy a 2nd cousin of ours a cello after I asker if she planned on continuing to play thru college and she said no she can't afford school, dorms and instrument rental. I looked for programs that actually helped students like her but found nothing of actual use. You can do more help with your own money than giving it to the government or charities.

[-] dojan@lemmy.world 15 points 6 months ago

It also helps if paying taxes isn't overly convoluted. The way doing taxes works for me is

  1. The tax agency sends out their calculations
  2. I complete with any complementary information (there's never been any)
  3. I sign off on the bank ID app

We're talking a couple of button clicks and it's done entirely online.

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this post was submitted on 28 Apr 2024
465 points (93.5% liked)

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