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But the Swedes are fine with it, as is the author of the post, because they feel they get their money's worth. The author went into quite a bit of detail about

But the Swedes are fine with it, as is the author of the post, because they feel they get their money's worth. The author went into quite a bit of detail about he doesn't have to save much for his childrens' education and some other major expenses since most will be covered by tax-payers. Assuming of course that the government is fiscally prudent for the many years until your kids start higher education and you are elderly and need a lot of medical care. Given how popular it is around the world to run huge deficits that end up requiring major cuts to services I wouldn't bet my future on it.

badpun 8y ago
The state-provided services are similar in Poland - most notably: free healthcare, free education up to university, state pension, disability insurance, some help in case the of financial hardship. Meanwhile, the total income tax burden is around 35% or 20% if you’re self-employed. There’s also plenty of other options, like the UK.
- badpun 8y ago
  Can the downvoter explain his/her decision? What is wrong with my post?
queuq 8y ago
We are not fine with it. It's a bit off topic, but all I can see online about Sweden always sounds so perfect. But in reality it's not. There's a lot of us Swedes that are long from fine paying these taxes and then see our friends/relatives waiting for half a year waiting for treatment for cancer. And if you'd like private healthcare, Sweden taxes you extra for that. New car? Triple tax first 3 years.
- geomark 8y ago
  I was wondering if there are dissenting opinions. What percentage of Swedes do you estimate feel the way you do?
  - mongol 8y ago
    Probably around half.
    - geomark 8y ago
      The half who are working and paying the taxes, amirite?
  - pkz 8y ago
    No enough to vote for a drastic change of the welfare system in any election.
  - CuriousSkeptic 8y ago
    First of all, being a reader of hn in Sweden probably means your monthly salary is in the top 10%, which of course colors your view of society. It also means that you’re taxed higher. While most people pay 31% in commune tax, the top earners pay an extra 25% adding to the resentment. I think most people agree that the quality of health care is an issue, but pretty divided on how to go about things. About 50-50 split. Fun fact, since the election in September the Riksdag still hasn’t been able to elect a prime minister due to being to divided on such issues. The only thing they do agree is to not to collaborate with SD, giving both sides roughly 40% support for their favorite candidate. Wikipedia had a nice map of the situation. We hn 10%ers tend to live in the more densely populated blue areas, again giving a pretty distorted view of things. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Swedish_general_election https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Swedish_general_electio...
    - geomark 8y ago
      "I think most people agree that the quality of health care is an issue..." Really? I thought that good healthcare was one of the major positives of the high taxes paid in Sweden. That was alluded to in the article and I have seen positive comments in the past about it. I guess that is due to the 10%ers being the ones commenting(?). But then I don't understand how there is uneven distribution of quality healthcare.
- Accacin 8y ago
  Yes, this is always the problem. The UK is far from perfect and I have a few friends always talking about Scandinavian countries and how they'd want to move there. What they don't seem to understand is that all countries have their own problems, the UK isn't unique in that regard. A Swedish guy I know gets annoyed when people are talking about Sweden like some heaven on earth and I do understand why.
  - hoaw 8y ago
    I don't disagree with that Sweden has problems, but the problems are still on a completely different scale than most other countries.

badpun 8y ago

The state-provided services are similar in Poland - most notably: free healthcare, free education up to university, state pension, disability insurance, some help in case the of financial hardship. Meanwhile, the total income tax burden is around 35% or 20% if you’re self-employed. There’s also plenty of other options, like the UK.

badpun 8y ago
Can the downvoter explain his/her decision? What is wrong with my post?

queuq 8y ago

We are not fine with it. It's a bit off topic, but all I can see online about Sweden always sounds so perfect. But in reality it's not. There's a lot of us Swedes that are long from fine paying these taxes and then see our friends/relatives waiting for half a year waiting for treatment for cancer. And if you'd like private healthcare, Sweden taxes you extra for that. New car? Triple tax first 3 years.

geomark 8y ago
I was wondering if there are dissenting opinions. What percentage of Swedes do you estimate feel the way you do?
- mongol 8y ago
  Probably around half.
  - geomark 8y ago
    The half who are working and paying the taxes, amirite?
- pkz 8y ago
  No enough to vote for a drastic change of the welfare system in any election.
- CuriousSkeptic 8y ago
  First of all, being a reader of hn in Sweden probably means your monthly salary is in the top 10%, which of course colors your view of society. It also means that you’re taxed higher. While most people pay 31% in commune tax, the top earners pay an extra 25% adding to the resentment. I think most people agree that the quality of health care is an issue, but pretty divided on how to go about things. About 50-50 split. Fun fact, since the election in September the Riksdag still hasn’t been able to elect a prime minister due to being to divided on such issues. The only thing they do agree is to not to collaborate with SD, giving both sides roughly 40% support for their favorite candidate. Wikipedia had a nice map of the situation. We hn 10%ers tend to live in the more densely populated blue areas, again giving a pretty distorted view of things. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Swedish_general_election https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Swedish_general_electio...
  - geomark 8y ago
    "I think most people agree that the quality of health care is an issue..." Really? I thought that good healthcare was one of the major positives of the high taxes paid in Sweden. That was alluded to in the article and I have seen positive comments in the past about it. I guess that is due to the 10%ers being the ones commenting(?). But then I don't understand how there is uneven distribution of quality healthcare.
Accacin 8y ago
Yes, this is always the problem. The UK is far from perfect and I have a few friends always talking about Scandinavian countries and how they'd want to move there. What they don't seem to understand is that all countries have their own problems, the UK isn't unique in that regard. A Swedish guy I know gets annoyed when people are talking about Sweden like some heaven on earth and I do understand why.
- hoaw 8y ago
  I don't disagree with that Sweden has problems, but the problems are still on a completely different scale than most other countries.