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Most Danish voters oppose government plans to cut the top rate of income tax

bloomberg.com

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Re: Most Danish voters oppose government plans to cut the top rate of income tax

#41

Post by yaantc »

tajen wrote: post #23
atemerev wrote: post #10

In other countries, taxes are complicated (no citation needed). There's income tax, but there are also social security payments, industry-specific taxes, etc. And you have to pay for your own education and healthcare! Danish tax is simple and all inclusive. It is around 50%, which is about the same as in US if all hidden obligatory payments are taken into account. But it is all inclusive: all education and healthcare…

Had the same feeling about Australia vs France. In Australia I'd pay $120 for a tax agent (~1% of my income tax), it would be over and I'd be happy about it. In France I feel like I'm being chased, because it's such a socialist country: I earn €2000 per month after tax, I feel like I'm being told by the tax administration that I'm a thieve because I'm rich, even though they're the ones who attempted to double-tax me…

Not my feeling at all... As an employee filling taxes in France is super simple, just fill a web form with salary and banking pre-filled (just check). Done in under 15mn.

Sometimes one can be in odd situation that don't fit well. It's also been my case some years ago when exercising and selling US stock options not considered as such in France (so taxed as salary, ouch...). Just ask them ahead, in my experience they reply and are clear. And I sent them the data with explanation on what I did, so they could correct easily if I misunderstood. Always been fine so far.

Maybe you had worst experience and decided to move elsewhere, but no need to paint a bleaker picture. One can question the level of taxes and how they're used, but the payment itself is simple for most I'd say.

Re: Most Danish voters oppose government plans to cut the top rate of income tax

#42

Post by mstade »

hedgew wrote: post #35

I'm not in Denmark but in a very similar European country. I don't want the high taxes. The current taxes and mandatory payments feel unfair. The generations before us worked during the greatest economic boom in history, were mostly employed in safe and high paying government jobs (still are), bought houses before their values tripled, and are now receiving monthly pension payments that are almost twice what most you…

This sounds like Sweden or Norway, and I couldn't agree more.

Re: Most Danish voters oppose government plans to cut the top rate of income tax

#43

Post by EJTH »

lumberjack wrote: post #22
pjc50 wrote: post #6

More accurately, Danes value their welfare state and high-equality society and are smart enough to accept that it has to be paid for. Therefore any campaign on cutting taxes immediately attracts the suspicion: what services are going to be cut?

Plus 30% of the workforce is employed in the public sector so for a lot of people it's more serious than just some reduced benefits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_public_se...

This is a more probable reason. The only people I know who are against tax and public sector cut downs are the people who are actually employed by the state.

Re: Most Danish voters oppose government plans to cut the top rate of income tax

#44

Post by humanrebar »

VeejayRampay wrote: post #37
atemerev wrote: post #10

In other countries, taxes are complicated (no citation needed). There's income tax, but there are also social security payments, industry-specific taxes, etc. And you have to pay for your own education and healthcare! Danish tax is simple and all inclusive. It is around 50%, which is about the same as in US if all hidden obligatory payments are taken into account. But it is all inclusive: all education and healthcare…

Let's be serious here. I'm French, all for high taxes and all but please let's not delude ourselves thinking that American people pay "around 50%" taxes. As soon as you have enough money to afford it, you'll pay a tax lawyer to get that down to about 15% or something, thanks to a bajillion hidden tax system loopholes allowing the rich to get an advantage on the less fortunate. And even if you take into account the pr…

> As soon as you have enough money to afford it, you'll pay a tax lawyer to get that down to about 15% or something

You need a lot of money before that's an option. By that point, you have enough to be one of those citizen-of-the-world globe-trotting types with vacation homes that double as convenient tax shelters.

That is to say, the American middle class pays quite a bit in taxes. Even the poor working class pay a flat 12.4% in payroll taxes, maybe 7-8% in sales taxes (depending on locality), and varying amounts in service taxes (fees, tolls, etc.). That's assuming they make too little to pay income tax.

Re: Most Danish voters oppose government plans to cut the top rate of income tax

#45

Post by cerebellum42 »

vlehto wrote: post #28
JensRex wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get your point, but you make it sound like Denmark has flat tax. For the record, it does not.

And they have VAT too. Everybody has to have VAT in EU. Or else EU gets really angry.

It's not like they have VAT because they are in the EU. They had VAT since 1962, and they have had it at the current rate of 25% (higher than most EU countries) since 1992, which is way before the EU VAT directive was even a thing.

Edit: Correction, the EU VAT directive actually has its origins before 1992, but still after Denmark already had its own VAT.

Re: Most Danish voters oppose government plans to cut the top rate of income tax

#46

Post by sausman »

atemerev wrote: post #10

In other countries, taxes are complicated (no citation needed). There's income tax, but there are also social security payments, industry-specific taxes, etc. And you have to pay for your own education and healthcare! Danish tax is simple and all inclusive. It is around 50%, which is about the same as in US if all hidden obligatory payments are taken into account. But it is all inclusive: all education and healthcare…

Another thing to consider is the size of Denmark compared to the US. It's a much smaller political unit which tends to translate into more responsive politicians. Danes have about half the number of representatives we have in the US but less than 5% of our population.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_congressional_...

Re: Most Danish voters oppose government plans to cut the top rate of income tax

#47

Post by egman_ekki »

alkonaut wrote: post #40
jonatron wrote: post #7

Not mentioned is that Denmark has the OECD's lowest inequality. Having visited a couple of times, it does feel like they're doing something right.

Inequality is a large driver of crime. So keeping a low inequality means you don't have to spend as much on incarceration, police, courts etc., as you would have otherwise. That in turn means you can spend money on things that tax payers care about (schools, etc.) which increases equality, and so on.

...interestingly, Denmark has one of the highest number of burglaries per capita in Europe... violent crimes are probably quite rare, though

Re: Most Danish voters oppose government plans to cut the top rate of income tax

#48

Post by alkonaut »

EJTH wrote: post #32

As a dane I can tell you the headline is a lie, almost everyone I know thinks that we pay way too much for the mediocre services we get.

I think it's a little bit of both (It's the same in Sweden). It depends on who you ask obviously, but also how you ask.

Do people think they pay a lot of taxes? Yes. Too much? That depends on how you ask. If you ask "would you like to pay less taxes" the answer is generally no. The reason for that isn't that people feel they would rather pay less, only that they would like to get more for it. They are unhappy about waiting for surgery for 6 months (for example) - which they think shouldn't happen because they pay so much in taxes. But when asked whether that meant they'd like to pay less in taxes, the answer is usually "no, I'd like to have a shorter wait for the surgery"...

Re: Most Danish voters oppose government plans to cut the top rate of income tax

#49

Post by guard-of-terra »

Explanation doesn't seem to make sense:

"Equality is deeply ingrained in a society that resents individuality and success", therefore they would oppose smaller taxes for the poor (same taxes for more affluent).

"Danes treasure their welfare state", therefore they would oppose measures to decrease load on said welfare state while giving unemployed a job.

Somethig is amiss here.

Re: Most Danish voters oppose government plans to cut the top rate of income tax

#50

Post by purplelobster »

hedgew wrote: post #35

I'm not in Denmark but in a very similar European country. I don't want the high taxes. The current taxes and mandatory payments feel unfair. The generations before us worked during the greatest economic boom in history, were mostly employed in safe and high paying government jobs (still are), bought houses before their values tripled, and are now receiving monthly pension payments that are almost twice what most you…

Another view is: I could definitely invest especially the forced pension better myself. The problem is most people would use that money for consumption if they had a choice, and then at old age they would blame society for having to live on the street (and in the end probably get a handout anyway). Perhaps in the end all of us are better off if we "force" these saving for most people.
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