4 ms·

A few years ago I read a study about taxes and public services by country. The conclusion ending up being: "If Americans knew what Europeans get for their tax

by grecy 6y ago

A few years ago I read a study about taxes and public services by country. The conclusion ending up being: "If Americans knew what Europeans get for their tax dollars, they (Americans) would riot in the streets". My google-fu fails me, and I've been unable to find it since. Does anyone remember what I'm talking about?

0_____0 6y ago
>A few years ago, an American acquaintance of mine who lives in Sweden told me that, quite by chance, he and his Swedish wife were in New York City and ended up sharing a limousine to the theatre district with a southern US senator and his wife. This senator, a conservative, anti-tax Democrat, asked my acquaintance about Sweden and swaggeringly commented about "all those taxes the Swedes pay". To which this American replied, "The problem with Americans and their taxes is that we get nothing for them." He then went on to tell the senator about the comprehensive level of services and benefits that Swedes receive. >"If Americans knew what Swedes receive for their taxes, we would probably riot," he told the senator. The rest of the ride to the theatre district was unsurprisingly quiet.
- redis_mlc 6y ago
  It's true that tax-paying Americans don't get much from the government, at least directly (our 3%-4% of GDP spent on military has maintained global peace for 75 years, and VA/Medicare is awesome if you qualify.) But you have to be factual when quoting Sweden as a paradise. Sweden already had one welfare reset a few decades ago, and 90% (or more) of the recent migrants are on welfare, rapidly draining the Swedish welfare programs. (The reason migrants target Sweden (and Canada) is because of the juicy welfare programs, which lets them have 4 wives, all subsidized by the state.) > This senator, a conservative, anti-tax Democrat That's a new one. lol.
Spivak 6y ago
I think this is a play on an earlier quote about American supermarkets. > Yeltsin, then 58, "roamed the aisles of Randall's nodding his head in amazement," wrote Asin. He told his fellow Russians in his entourage that if their people, who often must wait in line for most goods, saw the conditions of U.S. supermarkets, "there would be a revolution." https://www.nhregister.com/neighborhood/bayarea/news/article/When-Boris-Yeltsin-went-grocery-shopping-in-Clear-5759129.php https://www.nhregister.com/neighborhood/bayarea/news/article...
Barrin92 6y ago
Googling that sentence leads me to this article that contains that quote: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/the-myth-of-low-tax-america-why-americans-arent-getting-their-moneys-worth/274945/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/the-myt... which makes references to several sources
- grecy 6y ago
  Thankyou, that must be the one. But not a study as I had remembered.
CountSessine 6y ago
If that were true, doesn’t that, in a way, justify America’s libertarian-leanings? If there’s something about the American civil service (be it defined benefit pensions, or whatever) that makes it a bad value outlier compared to European governments, does it make any sense expanding government services before we figure out what makes US government such a bad value?
tim-- 6y ago
The closest I could find was this: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/apr/15/tax-day-us-europe https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/ap...
O_H_E 6y ago
googling the sentence you have in qoutes brought up this: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/the-myth-of-low-tax-america-why-americans-arent-getting-their-moneys-worth/274945/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/the-myt...
deleted 6y ago
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by grecy 6y ago

0_____0 6y ago

>A few years ago, an American acquaintance of mine who lives in Sweden told me that, quite by chance, he and his Swedish wife were in New York City and ended up sharing a limousine to the theatre district with a southern US senator and his wife. This senator, a conservative, anti-tax Democrat, asked my acquaintance about Sweden and swaggeringly commented about "all those taxes the Swedes pay". To which this American replied, "The problem with Americans and their taxes is that we get nothing for them." He then went on to tell the senator about the comprehensive level of services and benefits that Swedes receive. >"If Americans knew what Swedes receive for their taxes, we would probably riot," he told the senator. The rest of the ride to the theatre district was unsurprisingly quiet.

redis_mlc 6y ago
It's true that tax-paying Americans don't get much from the government, at least directly (our 3%-4% of GDP spent on military has maintained global peace for 75 years, and VA/Medicare is awesome if you qualify.) But you have to be factual when quoting Sweden as a paradise. Sweden already had one welfare reset a few decades ago, and 90% (or more) of the recent migrants are on welfare, rapidly draining the Swedish welfare programs. (The reason migrants target Sweden (and Canada) is because of the juicy welfare programs, which lets them have 4 wives, all subsidized by the state.) > This senator, a conservative, anti-tax Democrat That's a new one. lol.

Spivak 6y ago

I think this is a play on an earlier quote about American supermarkets. > Yeltsin, then 58, "roamed the aisles of Randall's nodding his head in amazement," wrote Asin. He told his fellow Russians in his entourage that if their people, who often must wait in line for most goods, saw the conditions of U.S. supermarkets, "there would be a revolution." https://www.nhregister.com/neighborhood/bayarea/news/article/When-Boris-Yeltsin-went-grocery-shopping-in-Clear-5759129.php https://www.nhregister.com/neighborhood/bayarea/news/article...

Barrin92 6y ago

Googling that sentence leads me to this article that contains that quote: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/the-myth-of-low-tax-america-why-americans-arent-getting-their-moneys-worth/274945/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/the-myt... which makes references to several sources

grecy 6y ago
Thankyou, that must be the one. But not a study as I had remembered.

CountSessine 6y ago

If that were true, doesn’t that, in a way, justify America’s libertarian-leanings? If there’s something about the American civil service (be it defined benefit pensions, or whatever) that makes it a bad value outlier compared to European governments, does it make any sense expanding government services before we figure out what makes US government such a bad value?

tim-- 6y ago

The closest I could find was this: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/apr/15/tax-day-us-europe https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/ap...

O_H_E 6y ago

googling the sentence you have in qoutes brought up this: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/the-myth-of-low-tax-america-why-americans-arent-getting-their-moneys-worth/274945/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/the-myt...

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]