This article is disinformation. > It turns out the average Swede pays less than 27 percent of his or her income in direct taxes. I have no idea where this num

This article is disinformation. > It turns out the average Swede pays less than 27 percent of his or her income in direct taxes. I have no idea where this number came from. Maybe you can get it by including children and others who are not part of the workforce. The average income tax in Sweden is 43%, according to [1], which looks a lot more plausible; county taxes alone (paid by all workers) are in the range 30-35% [2], and that does not include mandatory payments for social security etc, which are handled by the employer. You get to see the full impact as a business owner. Sole proprietors end up forking over roughly 2/3 of their bottom line. Living off investments? Capital gains tax is 30%, independent of holding period, and even currency exchange is taxable (which is a problem because the chronically falling Swedish krona makes it a "gain" to just hold e.g. dollars or euros in an interest-free trading account). > Tax forms come already filled out If you are a salaried employee living and working in Sweden, don't run a business (or even have an occasionally income-generating hobby) and have no investments, then you can probably just sign the thing and be done. In that case, the government knows everything about your finances, and if you think that's a good thing... good for you. > There is no property tax The "conservative" government which abolished it is gone, the current socialist one is raising taxes again and is widely expected to eventually reinstate a wealth tax, which would also act as a property tax unless property is explicitly excluded - which is unlikely, given years of hand-wringing over the high level of real estate prices and related household indebtedness. > Sales taxes in Sweden are higher — but less noticeable Sales taxes in Sweden are insane: if you sell a good for X, you need to add 25% of X to the price and hand it over to the Swedish state. It's "less noticeable" by law, just like the mandatory contributions to social security handled by employers, because it would be unwise to keep reminding tax payers how much they are being charged. If you consider this a good thing... I consider you a paternalistic jerk. > We get cash instead of deductions This is just plain false. Deductions for home improvements, recycling, investments in special business categories, depreciation of equipment for hobby or business use... I could go on. It's all there. My most benevolent guess: the author doesn't know Swedish and simply doesn't have a clue. > High taxes give me more choices and freedoms Author is a socialist. He may not be wrong on a personal level - it is quite possible that he, in particular, gets more from the system than he pays into it - but that simply means that others are being made to pay for his choices and freedom. [1] https://www.va.se/nyheter/2016/12/29/siffrorna-avslojar-vi-som-bor-i-norden-betalar-mest-skatt-i-hela-eu/ https://www.va.se/nyheter/2016/12/29/siffrorna-avslojar-vi-s... [2] http://www.scb.se/hitta-statistik/statistik-efter-amne/offentlig-ekonomi/finanser-for-den-kommunala-sektorn/kommunalskatterna/pong/tabell-och-diagram/totala-kommunala-skattesatser-kommunvis/ http://www.scb.se/hitta-statistik/statistik-efter-amne/offen...