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Born in Sweden and I am not fine with it. There are some good things like free education and healthcare - especially compared to healthcare in US - but there’s

Born in Sweden and I am not fine with it. There are some good things like free education and healthcare - especially compared to healthcare in US - but there’s enormous waste on maintaining the welfare state. I recently moved away, partly due to taxes and partly for other reasons. I doubt most people with high incomes are fine with it, but the price for exit is expensive. For me it was only doable because I spent most of my time abroad anyway, my work is international and I am young and flexible. If you are a Swede considering moving, make sure you don’t have significant economic ties with Sweden after moving out. For example, I had to liquidate my Swedish LLC to prove that I had no significant business in Sweden anymore (which was already the case, but IRS can be rather...precise). A tax lawyer can easily help with this, and it is easily worth the one time cost if you are on a high income.

TheChaplain 8y ago
American citizens are taxed even if they do not have economic ties with the US.
hoaw 8y ago
I have made that calculation and it hasn't really been that convincing for me. If you are moving for opportunities, including say career or housing, that is one thing. But in pure tax, the difference really isn't that big between similar countries. Even in a properly low tax country, your additional income might increase €20k a year. Is that worth giving up everything you know for? Probably not in isolation. Maybe I will move someday, but it won't be because of taxes.
- swedethrow 8y ago
  You are right, it doesn’t make sense if you want to live in Sweden. For me, I had already spent years living abroad in various places, so effectively it wasn’t that big of a deal. FWIW it ended up being a lot more than 20k/y for me, but YMMW.
  - hoaw 8y ago
    Presumably you are able to charge more than the average high income earner. Because usually an employer would pay maybe 70k SEK a month and the employee would get half of that after taxes, but that also includes pension. So in a low tax country you might pay 10% tax and then 15% in pension which leaves you with ~15k SEK more a month. Which could certainly pay for a nice life, but isn't mind blowing. On the other hand if I lived abroad I wouldn't "pay" 15k SEK a month to live in Sweden. In fact, I probably wouldn't move back to Sweden at all because of the increasing lack of quality of life. Which ironically makes it even harder to move in the first place, since I would have to commit to living abroad.

TheChaplain 8y ago

American citizens are taxed even if they do not have economic ties with the US.

hoaw 8y ago

I have made that calculation and it hasn't really been that convincing for me. If you are moving for opportunities, including say career or housing, that is one thing. But in pure tax, the difference really isn't that big between similar countries. Even in a properly low tax country, your additional income might increase €20k a year. Is that worth giving up everything you know for? Probably not in isolation. Maybe I will move someday, but it won't be because of taxes.

swedethrow 8y ago
You are right, it doesn’t make sense if you want to live in Sweden. For me, I had already spent years living abroad in various places, so effectively it wasn’t that big of a deal. FWIW it ended up being a lot more than 20k/y for me, but YMMW.
- hoaw 8y ago
  Presumably you are able to charge more than the average high income earner. Because usually an employer would pay maybe 70k SEK a month and the employee would get half of that after taxes, but that also includes pension. So in a low tax country you might pay 10% tax and then 15% in pension which leaves you with ~15k SEK more a month. Which could certainly pay for a nice life, but isn't mind blowing. On the other hand if I lived abroad I wouldn't "pay" 15k SEK a month to live in Sweden. In fact, I probably wouldn't move back to Sweden at all because of the increasing lack of quality of life. Which ironically makes it even harder to move in the first place, since I would have to commit to living abroad.