6 ms·

They differ all over sweden depending on how old you are, how long you've been working for and how much you earn. In Stockholm you pay about 30% in income tax

by luuse 14y ago

They differ all over sweden depending on how old you are, how long you've been working for and how much you earn. In Stockholm you pay about 30% in income tax (add 20% if you earn more than 401 100 SEK annually, you earn about 360 000 SEK annually as a newly graduated MS CS student). However you also have another tax, the employment tax, which isn't displayed on your salary specification and is paid by your employer in addition to your salary. The employment tax is 31%. This makes the effective income tax about 81%... The sales tax is 25% for most things. We do have free public education, and healthcare for everyone under 18 (it's heavily subsidized after 18 but not free). The standard of our universities is not bad but i wouldn't call it world class as they try to make you believe... We do have problems with the earlier education. Stockholm doesn't have any problems with natural disasters or bombings but the housing situation is pretty crappy.

bjourne 14y ago
Sorry but that calculation is just stupid. Thanks to deductions, the income tax paid for even a high earner does not surpass 28%. The 20% state tax is only paid on income in excess of 401 100 something that is always conveniently forgotten when discussing taxes. E.g. the tax scale is progressive which is to offset the trend that the more you earn, the likelier you have other incomes such as investments returns which are taxed significantly lower than salary tax. Yes, Sweden still has high taxes but the situation is not nearly as bad as you make it out to be.
- luuse 14y ago
  Yes, sorry about that, that's true. I forgot that for a few minutes when reading up on the actual percentages (regarding the state tax). However the regular income tax is still around 30% and while regular employees don't see the employment tax (arbetsgivaravgifter) i'd still say it's an income tax because it's based on your income and not on how much you work or when you work.
beagle3 14y ago
Your math doesn't make any sense - the 81% (assuming that all is right, and bjourne says it isn't) is out of 131%, not out of 100% - so the actual tax is 61%. Still high, but on par with Tel-Aviv and NYC (assuming fiscal cliff) - and you get back infinitely more than NYC and just "a lot more" than Tel-Aviv. I'd say it's great.
- samuellb 14y ago
  For many people there are also substantial tax deductions you can make. E.g. you can subtract 30% of interest expenses on private loans (ränteavdrag) and 50% of renovation costs of owned houses/apartments (ROT). Now unfortunately these deductions lead to higher property and apartments prices, so it might not reduce your total expenses after all.
- luuse 14y ago
  Well the state tax isn't as i said it, bjourne is correct about that part. I see that extra tax as money that if not for the tax would be part of my salary (at least some of it) because it's based on how much I earn, not how much I work or when I work. Thus making it of 100% of my salary, not 131%. I never said it's bad. It's OK. I'd just rather pay for something great/world class than having someone else take some of my money throughout my whole life and pay for average things for me (whether i want them or not). It's a lot harder as a consumer to demand things when you're not paying for it and you loose options when there's a single entity that pays for everything and wants everything done a certain way.
  - beagle3 14y ago
    Were you ever an employer? If your salary is 10,000SEK/month (to make numbers simple), then you cost your employer 13,100SEK/month. You pay 3,000 SEK in taxes, so your take home is 7,000/13,1000 = ~55%, and the tax rate is 45%. If the employer didn't have to pay those 31% to the government, he would have paid them to you, and you would have been taxed on them. It doesn't matter how the line items are listed from the employer's perspective, and it shouldn't matter to you. Just assume that this appears as another line item, and also a grand total "employer expense". This is what you negotiate when you negotiate your salary - not the 10,000 SEK.
    - luuse 14y ago
      Yes. That looks right. It's a completely different tax, if the employer didn't have to pay that to the government you'd have to renegotiate your salary to get any of it (because it's not part of your salary). But in Sweden you do negotiate the 10,000 SEK. You generally don't talk about the 13,100 unless you are an employer and have to think about it. That is my point and that is what I think is stupid.

by luuse 14y ago

bjourne 14y ago

Sorry but that calculation is just stupid. Thanks to deductions, the income tax paid for even a high earner does not surpass 28%. The 20% state tax is only paid on income in excess of 401 100 something that is always conveniently forgotten when discussing taxes. E.g. the tax scale is progressive which is to offset the trend that the more you earn, the likelier you have other incomes such as investments returns which are taxed significantly lower than salary tax. Yes, Sweden still has high taxes but the situation is not nearly as bad as you make it out to be.

luuse 14y ago
Yes, sorry about that, that's true. I forgot that for a few minutes when reading up on the actual percentages (regarding the state tax). However the regular income tax is still around 30% and while regular employees don't see the employment tax (arbetsgivaravgifter) i'd still say it's an income tax because it's based on your income and not on how much you work or when you work.

beagle3 14y ago

Your math doesn't make any sense - the 81% (assuming that all is right, and bjourne says it isn't) is out of 131%, not out of 100% - so the actual tax is 61%. Still high, but on par with Tel-Aviv and NYC (assuming fiscal cliff) - and you get back infinitely more than NYC and just "a lot more" than Tel-Aviv. I'd say it's great.

samuellb 14y ago
For many people there are also substantial tax deductions you can make. E.g. you can subtract 30% of interest expenses on private loans (ränteavdrag) and 50% of renovation costs of owned houses/apartments (ROT). Now unfortunately these deductions lead to higher property and apartments prices, so it might not reduce your total expenses after all.
luuse 14y ago
Well the state tax isn't as i said it, bjourne is correct about that part. I see that extra tax as money that if not for the tax would be part of my salary (at least some of it) because it's based on how much I earn, not how much I work or when I work. Thus making it of 100% of my salary, not 131%. I never said it's bad. It's OK. I'd just rather pay for something great/world class than having someone else take some of my money throughout my whole life and pay for average things for me (whether i want them or not). It's a lot harder as a consumer to demand things when you're not paying for it and you loose options when there's a single entity that pays for everything and wants everything done a certain way.
- beagle3 14y ago
  Were you ever an employer? If your salary is 10,000SEK/month (to make numbers simple), then you cost your employer 13,100SEK/month. You pay 3,000 SEK in taxes, so your take home is 7,000/13,1000 = ~55%, and the tax rate is 45%. If the employer didn't have to pay those 31% to the government, he would have paid them to you, and you would have been taxed on them. It doesn't matter how the line items are listed from the employer's perspective, and it shouldn't matter to you. Just assume that this appears as another line item, and also a grand total "employer expense". This is what you negotiate when you negotiate your salary - not the 10,000 SEK.
  - luuse 14y ago
    Yes. That looks right. It's a completely different tax, if the employer didn't have to pay that to the government you'd have to renegotiate your salary to get any of it (because it's not part of your salary). But in Sweden you do negotiate the 10,000 SEK. You generally don't talk about the 13,100 unless you are an employer and have to think about it. That is my point and that is what I think is stupid.