The difference is that the previous government lowered the taxes for the first 20K SEK earned per month. (This was mostly after my time in Sweden.) My point re

The difference is that the previous government lowered the taxes for the first 20K SEK earned per month. (This was mostly after my time in Sweden.) My point regarding the impossibility of service work at these levels stands. Quite a few tax exemptions had to be created to get the population to start paying taxes for those kinds of jobs. Edit: For the part of the salary above ca 19K/month, you're correct. In fact, the taxes are progressive, so it is even worse.