Quote:
Originally Posted by polle54
How much is the top bracket?
Here in Denmark I have to pay 60% TAX of the money you make over $72.000.
So if I have a let's say $200k annual income I pay 60% to the state of the $128k and standard 45% of the $72k
I hardly think you guys have anything to bitch about 
BUT on the contrary we dont have homeless people, free medical care for everyone and a social security system that in general works very well. But damn we pay for it  |
Exactly.
Our top rate is currently 35%, under Obama's plan it would return to 39.6%, hardly an onerous rate....especially when you consider that social security taxes are capped at around 100K....so even though Obama wants to mess with that a little bit to fix the shortfall, the U.S. will still have some of the lowest taxes of any industrialized nation.
(You also have to remember that the 39.6% only applies to income above the 200K mark, if you make 200K you don't pay 39.6% on every dollar, just the dollars over 200k)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brujah
Unless Denmark was awesome, that high taxation would act to send the wealthy out of Denmark wouldn't it?
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So goes the conservative theory....but it doesn't happen.
Also, look at it this way. They pay those taxes but don't have to pay health insurance premiums. The average policy for a family of 4 costs $12K per year in the U.S., and then you have to fight with them to pay for stuff, along with deductibles and copays and things like that.
If your company lays you off, unemployment benefits there are much more generous. Here they'll hardly pay for groceries for a family of 4.
Their state pension system (social security) is much better (more generous AND financially stable), so you don't have to save 10-20% of your money in a 401(k) for fear of living in poverty in your old age.
There are alot of other things you have to pay for here that are covered by the state there. So you can't really compare dollar for dollar taxes and take home pay, because they don't have to pay for nearly as much with their take home pay.