Do we have any Denmark or Sweden Residents?

[TR]

I know this is a long shot, but what the heck. For a paper I'm writing, I'm trying to do a comparison of taxes paid by a rich single person in the US vs. Denmark or Sweden and then a lower income family in both. Is there a good website to quickly get a rough calculation for Denmark or Sweden?

Thanks!

[aurora]

Apr 2, 2020 15:27:35 GMT -5 TR said:

I know this is a long shot, but what the heck. For a paper I'm writing, I'm trying to do a comparison of taxes paid by a rich single person in the US vs. Denmark or Sweden and then a lower income family in both. Is there a good website to quickly get a rough calculation for Denmark or Sweden?

Thanks!

You can't use an anecdote for your paper, but when I lived in Denmark temporarily I was taxed at their normal rate of about 50%. When I moved back to the US I qualified to have about half of that refunded.

The Danish tax agency is called SKAT:

skat.dk/skat.aspx

[4speedy]

If you want to put together some questions, I would be happy to pass them on to my downstairs neighbors. They are expats from Denmark (we live in Seoul). The husband is the CEO of LEGO Korea so they fall into the upper class. Their college age daughter is considered independent in Denmark as she is a college student living on her own back at home, so she falls into the lower income category. She just fled Denmark 2 weeks ago so she is here, as well.

[EllieT]

I’m in Sweden. Not sure I can help much, I barely know how much tax I’m paying to be honest. but maybe I can be of some help

www.skatteverket.se/servicelankar/otherlanguages/inenglish.4.12815e4f14a62bc048f4edc.html

That’s the Swedish tax agency’s website in English.

[imojoebunny]

Can't help with the actual question, but keep in mind that all taxes, not just income need to be included. Americans act like, holy ship, those countries pay so much in taxes, but forget that they pay for example.... 25% in federal, 6% in state, 8% in consumption (sales), 10% in health insurance premiums, plus property tax. It isn't that much different, when you account for all the things, for most people.

[4speedy]

Apr 2, 2020 22:25:47 GMT -5 imojoebunny said:

Can't help with the actual question, but keep in mind that all taxes, not just income need to be included. Americans act like, holy ship, those countries pay so much in taxes, but forget that they pay for example.... 25% in federal, 6% in state, 8% in consumption (sales), 10% in health insurance premiums, plus property tax. It isn't that much different, when you account for all the things, for most people.

Plus additional taxes on gas, alcohol, tobacco, hotel stays, etc.

[TR]

Apr 2, 2020 22:25:47 GMT -5 imojoebunny said:

Can't help with the actual question, but keep in mind that all taxes, not just income need to be included. Americans act like, holy ship, those countries pay so much in taxes, but forget that they pay for example.... 25% in federal, 6% in state, 8% in consumption (sales), 10% in health insurance premiums, plus property tax. It isn't that much different, when you account for all the things, for most people.

Yeah, this is kind of my end goal to add in those costs and show it’s not as stark a difference as it seems. 

[Wallflower]

Apr 3, 2020 8:02:36 GMT -5 TR said:

Apr 2, 2020 22:25:47 GMT -5 imojoebunny said:

Can't help with the actual question, but keep in mind that all taxes, not just income need to be included. Americans act like, holy ship, those countries pay so much in taxes, but forget that they pay for example.... 25% in federal, 6% in state, 8% in consumption (sales), 10% in health insurance premiums, plus property tax. It isn't that much different, when you account for all the things, for most people.

Yeah, this is kind of my end goal to add in those costs and show it’s not as stark a difference as it seems. 

Anecdotal, but I did something similar on my FB page. I asked my friends, including at least one overseas (Sweden), what their take-home % was. No details, nothing intrusive. And the Sweden answer was pretty close to what the US people reported. That's without including any of the other taxes on purchases.

[loveactually]

I'm a random lurker but I'm an American living in Denmark.
The tax website here is skat.dk
Here is hopefully the section in English

skat.dk/skat.aspx?oid=2244296
(You can put in your income here to estimate your tax for the year)


I completely agree with it is not really that much of a difference. I have 2 small kids the same age as my sister kids who lives in NY and when we compared it comes out similar.

Daycare was a big difference as it is heavily subsidized here.

There are some slight differences between the Scandinavian countries. I think in Sweden you pay to see your PCP but here we don't pay anything except for medicine which after you get to a certain threshold amount the government starts pays a certain percentage

If you have other questions I can try to answer them.

[acuore]

Apr 3, 2020 8:02:36 GMT -5 TR said:

Apr 2, 2020 22:25:47 GMT -5 imojoebunny said:

Can't help with the actual question, but keep in mind that all taxes, not just income need to be included. Americans act like, holy ship, those countries pay so much in taxes, but forget that they pay for example.... 25% in federal, 6% in state, 8% in consumption (sales), 10% in health insurance premiums, plus property tax. It isn't that much different, when you account for all the things, for most people.

Yeah, this is kind of my end goal to add in those costs and show it’s not as stark a difference as it seems. 

According to Wikipedia (which has a pretty good, if simple, breakdown on taxes for most countries), “marginal tax in practice varies between 7% on incomes just above 18,800 kronor to 60.1% on incomes above 675,700 kronor.” (That translates to about US $1,800 income on the low end and $67,500 on the high end.) Also remember that Sweden (like most if not all European countries) has a hefty VAT (value added tax) - 25%, which you pay on most goods & services. I don’t know if they have a property or wealth tax. 

60% marginal rate on income of $65k is a lot. For comparison, a single American making $65k will be at the 22% marginal bracket, and a married couple with that total income will be at 12% (plus 6.2% FICA; looks like the equivalent taxis about 7% in Sweden). Even if you assume you have a married couple in Sweden, each earning half of the $65k, they’d be paying 32% marginal rate (Sweden, like many countries, has only individual as a filing status, so married filing jointly isn’t a thing there.)


Yes, you get a lot more paid for in these countries, but the tax burden really is significantly higher, at all levels. We’re planning to retire in a Western European country (with lower overall taxes than Sweden) and trust me, I have run the numbers (and gotten an earful about it from in-laws and friends there).