Except in Sweden, what this means in practice, is that you only see the income/cap gains taxes paid of ordinary middle class people. Rich people in the Nordics

Except in Sweden, what this means in practice, is that you only see the income/cap gains taxes paid of ordinary middle class people. Rich people in the Nordics hold their wealth in foreign companies as retained earnings, and thus that wealth accrues gains/dividends tax free and remains invisible until they sell off a small portion for the purpose of buying something. It's "transparency" only for the plebs. Americans cannot do this, as they are subject to global tax and extra punitive taxation on foreign withheld earnings. Also, Swedes don't have the same level of real estate transparency that there is in America (property tax assessments put a public value on everyone's holdings in the US). Wealthy folks holding real estate between different countries in Europe makes the whole situation more shadowy than you might think.