None of the Nordic countries have taxes as high as the ones you outline above for average earners, though it is possible in some instances if you're earning substantially above average.
For average earners, the tax levels you outline are possible in Belgium, Austria, Germany, France, Hungary or Italy, based on OECD numbers. All of which outdistance the Nordics when it comes to taxation.
Again when looking at averages, of the Nordics, Sweden is highest with ~42.7% of total labour cost going to taxes for an average earner (of which 23.7% is employer payroll taxes). Norway has 36.6%, with 11.5% employer payroll taxes. Denmark 36.4% with 0.8% employer payroll taxes. Finland 43.9% with 18.7% payroll taxes.
Your VAT calculation is vastly exaggerated in any case, as from your net salary you also have to deduct housing costs, food and other essentials, many of which are tax exempt in most European countries. Last time I calculcated how much of my gross salary (excluding payroll taxes) went on VAT, while I lived in Norway, it was closer to 4% (of gross wages, so lower as percentag of total labour costs to make it comparable with the numbers above) despite earning way above average and having a higher disposable income after housing costs etc. than average. For lower earners it will typically be lower, as a lower earner tends to have less disposable income to spend on products that are rated at the full VAT rate.
> None of the Nordic countries have taxes as high as the ones you outline above for average earners, though it is possible in some instances if you're earning substantially above average.
Yes, I'm above average income for Sweden. Roughly my employer pays 1/4 payroll and 3/4 to me as gross salary. I pay 1/3 tax on gross salary and keep. 2/3. That means the net share of the employers' expense is roughly (2/3)x(3/4) which is 1/2 or 50%.
For a median income, the calculation would roughly instead be: the employer pays 1/4 payroll and the employee 1/4 income tax on that, meaning the employees take-home earnings are (3/4)x(3/4) ~ 0.56 so about 44% taxes (Which is surprisingly close to the figure you had there of 42.7%)
The VAT in my calculation was obviously the most exaggerated one because as you point out - a lot of my expenses have lower vat, or even negative tax (I pay a boat load of interests every month, which effectively have a -30% tax since they are completely deductible, even from earned income not just cap gains).
Oh: A source of great injustice in Sweden is that renters (predominantly low income earners) don't deduct interest rate expenses of those who own property (their landlords) while those who own their property deduct a crapload of interest, especially since we have a weird housing system with lots of huge long-term loans (100y mortgages are norm). Basically anyone who owns a flat or house deducts $5-25k a year of interest rates from their income tax. Essentially it's a huge transfer of money from renters to owners. A very regressive tax if you ask me.
> (Which is surprisingly close to the figure you had there of 42.7%)
I've cross checked the OECD numbers many times, and they are very precise. Any discrepancy tend to be year to year changes in deductions etc.
> Oh: A source of great injustice in Sweden is that renters (predominantly low income earners) don't deduct interest rate expenses of those who own property (their landlords) while those who own their property deduct a crapload of interest
This is interesting. Norway has that for a long time as well, and I believe the US allows it, but very few other countries in the world does and didn't realise Sweden also allowed it. Norway allows deductions of all debt interest, which makes it one of the most extreme examples of this, and is one of the big confounding factors when people look at tax rates without taking into account that e.g. even credit card interest paid gives a deduction towards taxable income...
In Norway at least I believe it's largely been seen as an incentive to reward home ownership, and making the average worker a home owner has been as one of the big goals of the labour movement, to the extent that any growth in proportion of population renting has come to be seen as a sign of collective failure.
For average earners, the tax levels you outline are possible in Belgium, Austria, Germany, France, Hungary or Italy, based on OECD numbers. All of which outdistance the Nordics when it comes to taxation.
Again when looking at averages, of the Nordics, Sweden is highest with ~42.7% of total labour cost going to taxes for an average earner (of which 23.7% is employer payroll taxes). Norway has 36.6%, with 11.5% employer payroll taxes. Denmark 36.4% with 0.8% employer payroll taxes. Finland 43.9% with 18.7% payroll taxes.
Your VAT calculation is vastly exaggerated in any case, as from your net salary you also have to deduct housing costs, food and other essentials, many of which are tax exempt in most European countries. Last time I calculcated how much of my gross salary (excluding payroll taxes) went on VAT, while I lived in Norway, it was closer to 4% (of gross wages, so lower as percentag of total labour costs to make it comparable with the numbers above) despite earning way above average and having a higher disposable income after housing costs etc. than average. For lower earners it will typically be lower, as a lower earner tends to have less disposable income to spend on products that are rated at the full VAT rate.