chukyrlaw
26318
1297
20
Jun 19, 2026 8:02 PM
chukyrlaw
26318
1297
20
Hopefullbliss44
Our taxes really aren't that low either. My parents run a small business. Ask them how little they pay in tax! XD (It's a lot.)
squirreltactics
I wish more people understood this.
Fentex
I've seen it put: "Norway isn't socialist, they're just better accountants than the U.S" as a way to try and make the point to yanks.
1eventHorizon9
Yes the math is really not that complicated but Americans are fucking morons.
Aimlockbelch
We are so selfish, we don’t want to give handouts to people who might not be able to pay when WE need help. I, personally, don’t want sick and stupid neighbors. I’d gladly pay what I pay for “insurance “ into taxes that help everyone, including ME!
daianaaaa
American taxes aren’t that low. I looked out of curiosity at a job that paid 60k a year - which in a lot of European countries amounts to a pretty decent pay after tax.
Guys. I was left with less than what I was making on 30k at the time. What the fuck
Because:
- federal tax
- state tax
- social security
- Whatever the fuck
Then on top of all that, paying health insurance and other costs. The whole system is a grift.
Iinajoki360
As a math teacher, I don't think you can persuade americans by explaining math.
StephenDaniels
If Norway is happy with things I'm happy for them. What I'm not happy about is how Jeff Bezos gets access to an income tax loophole big enough to pilot his yacht through while the people who get hit the hardest by income taxes, the people making 100k to 200k are the people who are most certain that the robber barons of today like Bezos and Musk shouldn't have to pay any. How do those people look at the ugly number on their tax return every April and not get offended by trump's number being zero?
DonaIdJ
The math is complicated if you can’t read or got shot at school
EverNotRelevant
GuyPilot
Nope. Just actual, functioning democracy.
PixelSprite64
Snooj
If you think countries with national health care take a bigger chunk of your paycheck, just wait until you live in America and already pay taxes and then pay a huge chunk of your paycheck for health care and then still have to make monthly payments to pay off any health care if you actually need it.
GuttaPercha
Norway is an oil state and needs to be recognized as such. So much of their success is tied to this
eeeeeeeeeeeeerik
Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland arent oilnations, still they have the same or even better.
Poppypoppoppop
Talking about math to people who don't even know how to read, is your mistake here
Recursiv3
My wife is a CPA, no one in the US even understands how tax brackets actually work. And any time business owners say taxes are killing them? They're just shit owners, probably aren't even tracking their income (accountanting firms included in this 🤣. Like 75% of business owners are half brain dead)
OriginalSyn
"I refused overtime because my jump into the next bracket and get taxed more than I even get paid" heard a grown ass adult say this when I was a high schooler and I could not convince this person that wasn't how that worked.
slack3rdav3
the only time that would make a difference is if you are below the poverty level, and receiving assistance. THEN OT may fuck you.
scootwhoman
The greed is destroying the U.S. Shareholders are used as the justification to rob people who are sick.
TheGriffin
Paying more in taxes for a better system ultimately means more money in your pocket to spend on things that make you happy
imgurnaknockuout
The average citizen who oppose universal/single payer health care in the US often think they won't get sick, never realizing, 'its not if you get sick, it's when'
MrFancyPanzer
My aunt is married to an American, they lived in the US for a while, but then moved to Norway after my cousin was born cause all the fees and insurance they had to pay for was too expensive. this was in the late 80s so i can only imagine things haven't gotten cheaper.
todayistheworstdayofmylife
Please stop calling it “free.” It’s not free, we all pay for it. If anything, it’s economies of scale, using our combined buying power to get services cheaper. We still pay for it.
The word “free” gets used by many on the right to imply socialism or that someone else is footing the bill.
DanielvonDoom718
I somewhat agree. Subsidized would be a better term.
EveryoneSaysEverythingHereisAI
tempUser7824
The predatory billionaires who own the government don't like that.
Sebastopol140
"CoMmUnISm!"
SecondSince
That or "It would never work here! We are too special!".
Sebastopol140
CommanderWes
Belgian here. I sleep like a baby knowing that my social system isnt perfect but will help me back up when im down for any reason. Gladly pay the highest taxes in the world. We give housing and free public transport and a living stipend to immigrants for a year before they start working here. So they can settle in. We dont discriminate on basis of race, sexuality or gender identity; we celebrate it. Im proud of how inclusive we are as a society.
CandiedCorn
None of that is "free", those heavy taxes are effectively government controlled crowd sourcing.
TsubakiTragic
I would not suggest America be used as a "model" for anything involving human civilisation.
JimmyWalkerTexasRanger
The U.S. is a corporate hellscape, and the Pinkertons just have different names now. https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1eWs2am9nMTdhcTd6d201cW9zZGR2Mnk1aGh2MWh3c3BtcHZpNnh3ZyZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/MZYDB2d1fOme6akQ2m/200w.webp
WhattaMattahYou
We have an Epstein Island parasite class which is keeping other subgroups at each other's throats.
If we're fighting each other we're not gonna party like France in 1789 and deal with them appropriately.
TheZommie
actually, the pinkertons still operate, to this day, under the same name
ShadyEsperanto
still taking on work to bust unions too https://www.vice.com/en/article/amazon-leaked-reports-expose-spying-warehouse-workers-labor-union-environmental-groups-social-movements/
JimmyWalkerTexasRanger
Holy shit. They work for the Swedes now. Securitas AB.
I learned something new this week. :)
https://media4.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1NTFtNGJjYnZ5NXhvbXU4b2tjbnpjbmE1MnNpaG8xanRmcnluZzBjMSZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/dXJwllNqVTqyyzVasp/200w.webp
Athol
Yup, know someone that even works for them (in his case sitting in a guard shack bored out of his mind)
J3lek
We Americans want our tax rate as low as possible because we know it's like 80% military budget and 19.8% war reparations. That's not how we want our money spent.
datphone777365
Insurance co def invest our money into the mic... its getting spent that way regardless.
That said the us mic absolutely has its hand up norways ass. If its in nato the us mic has a chunk of that economy in its pocket.
ElbowDeepInAPoliceState
Pretty sure y'all generally want a low tax rate so you pay less in tax, not to serve some high ideal
GlutenFreeCocaineWaffles
Yeah, this. The american attitude towards taxation is "It's bad! Uh, because because back when the British... and tea and... revolushun... murica... flags... yall..."
my1rstlaptopwas34inchscreenup
if that's right, on a scale of reform to burn it to the ground you're at low taxes? damn, the propaganda hits hard as fuck m8
flounder35
We speend way more on health care and our national debt than the military. We could spend alot less oon military though. 1.5 trillion is a joke.
GlutenFreeCocaineWaffles
*Insurance lobbies, not healthcare. The biggest scam this country has ever pulled was convincing everyone that a private finance industry of middlemen who have nothing to do with medicine is "healthcare"
trasneoir
I mean if get right down to it, something like 70-80% of the US GDP is middlemen. When you fork over a king's ransom to Blue Cross, your *motive* is to buy some healthcare. I'd be mad as hell too, but at the end of the day I'd put it on the healthcare line of my personal budget.
I guess i'm saying it's probably more productive to focus on the problem rather than the semantics of the problem?
flounder35
What some random call center person isn’t qualified to adjudicate my claim.
ScottPaul57
You know-- 300 billion would go a long ways in fixing healthcare and college tuition costs.
awkungen42
Like they'd spend it on us.
monkeyfly
Only if they wanted it to.
MarkusAwesomesauce
*at least* 300 billion...and it's already over 400 billion due to the costs of attacking Iran for 4 months.
Ptrik
Have you read "The Art Of The Steal " ? :/ he's a crooked dumb dumb that couldn't negotiate his way out of a wet paper bag
Whatdoyousaytoanicecupoftea
Its okay. Apparently the US isn't paying that. The costs are coming from the surrounding countries. Let that sink in for a second and you can see a tiny problem. They're basically leaning on the "board of peace" members to clean up the fact that Trump shat the bed.
Kerbal247
This feels very much like "Mexico will pay for the wall". We know how that ended and we know how this will end as well.
shitheadtookmyname
8000$ per person for health care costs in Norway. 350 million Americans. That is 2.8 trillion dollars a year. I'm not saying we can't afford it. I'm saying 300 billion is nothing. Everyone always underestimates how expensive health care is. Also it would be higher per capita here bc of how much more unhealthy everyone is here. We are FAT AS FUCK and it's mostly diet related so better health care wouldn't help.
trasneoir
You're mostly right. US healthcare spend is something like 5.3 trillion, where a comparable western country would spend 3 trillion on the same population and get better results.
Diet is a factor in the bad results, but the inefficiency of the spending is a bigger factor. The rationing of primary care means many people turn up half dead in an ER, costing 500k to save their lives when $500 on a GP and medication could have prevented the issue.
ScourgeOfAges
You'd also have to add everything that insurance companies get paid either by us or by our employers on our behalf. Pretty sure that'd take us well over that 2.8T
shitheadtookmyname
I'm only disagreeing with the comment as it was written. It's not my responsibility to invent better arguments for somebody else. I just point out when the arguments they use are silly
nostradumasss
20 plus years ago, I had a discussion with a Belgian friend discussing exactly these points. I was defending the US system. Since that time, I have learned enough to see how right my friend was and how wrong I was.
FortifiedWhine
Wow. Took you 20 years for that?
slack3rdav3
i mean, his name is nostradumasss. seems fitting ;)
ricpaul
Without a "B"?????
mrthewhitee
America doesn't even have crazy low taxes. They're on the lower end but they're still in the same range as most western countries.
ImAGrower
When taxes are broken down in the usblike property and so on, we pay more than a lot of countries.
WholeWheatBunnyHugger
We're paying MORE taxes than Universal Healthcare would cost.
And what I don't get is companies typically cover about 75% to 84% of their employees' health insurance premiums.
They wouldn't have that cost with Universal Healthcare
BrimstoneTO
They want that cost. They gladly pay it because it is still far less than paying livable wages. They create a system of indentured servitude by making sure that employees who are desperate for health coverage stick around in spite of awful conditions and pitiful wages. The entire system is by design.
ScoundrelPDX
Unless you're rich, of course. They pay crazy low taxes.
GuttaPercha
Depends on how you look at it. Yes theres wealth tied up in unrealized gains but the top 1% pays about 40% of all income tax. Bottom half pays zero income tax after the standard deduction.
ScoundrelPDX
The top 1% has most of the money, too. In the 50% range, and since money has less *personal* value the more you have (aka if you have enough to live on, you may *want* more, but you don't *need* more), the rich SHOULD pay more.
GuttaPercha
Its fine to have that opinion, but saying the wealthy pay crazy low taxes is just false in the US. Especially on a relative basis to lower income and when compared to other developed countries.
ScoundrelPDX
You're entitled to your own opinion, not your own facts.
strangeassfiction
Gonna ned source material on thated
GuttaPercha
Its public information. Simple google will suffice
GuttaPercha
https://usafacts.org/articles/who-doesnt-pay-federal-inc">/">https://usafacts.org/articles/who-doesnt-pay-federal-income-taxes/
https://usafacts.org/articles/who-pays-the-most-income-tax/
Magjee
American Property Taxes are extremely high. For comparative homes in Canada, you are dishing out 2 - 5 times the amount and ted on what they gouge you guys on utilities. It's like an all round ass pounding.
Unfriendly
Live in sweden.
The max property tax here is $1100 per year.
ParpleBarglarAhrlm
But we’re free to pursue that ass pounding
kadelto127001
What’s the property tax on a house in Canada? Just wondering how screwed I am $7,000 a year
onlyhalfghost
house and land worth ~200k on a nice day in shitarse woods, ontario; property taxes about 1500$/year
Magjee
In Toronto, for $750k USD, it's $3k USD. We also get very good services for that and we have higher costs for snow removal and maintenance for winter weather
hewhosleftalone
800 per year max tax on Sweden
Fentex
I'm paying about $2400 USD Rates on my 1000m² section and three bedroom house in NZ - which is cheaper than our more expensive cities. My Rates (our local council taxes) pay for water, local roads, rubbish collection and, get this, are taxed by our national government because they claim they're service charges attracting tax liability and not a localised tax levied on us.
rayvn
I'm in Nova Scotia, my house value is about $500k, my property tax is about $4k/year.
ananfro
650k house and $1200 a year tax
SergeyPrkl
Have to chip in, In Finland, my house value is 500k euros, somewhat above midle class level, 400m2 new (less than 15 yo) stone house by the lake with own pier, beach and facilities, 10min ride from city center, the property tax is 900 euros. And I wanted to tell you this because here we have similar circumstances that Norway have. Pic related, its the backyard, in the distance, you can see three towers that belongs to a medieval fort some 800 years old.
SirenSinger17
Goddamn, my $250k house is $3k taxes each year in USA, Virginia
kadelto127001
I also have a house I bought for 250K
brattysubsam
169k, Iowa, $3300/year
leroy666
Other end of the country. House worth 800K or so and taxes just over 3.5K.
rayvn
I'm curious - I know NS has high property tax compared to other provinces, but we also have a reg that caps the property tax for owners until the property changes hands. We bought this home last year, the previous owner's prop tax was just under $3k, it jumped up when we bought it because the cap reset. Does your province have a similar cap system, and if so, have you been in that house for a while (pre-boom?)
Badprenup
Depends on the value and details of your house. I live in MN and the market value of my place is $250k. 4 bed, 1.5 bath, about 1900 square feet (1300 finished), and half acre lot, in a good town near the twin cities.
My property tax is about half of what you pay, so I hope your place is absolutely fucking awesome to justify that cost lol
sendmeyourpitbulls
Even in the same region it can be wildly different. My parents are in a more rural town a county over and pay $2500. I’m 50 minutes away and pay 2.5x that. Comparable lot. My house is slightly larger but not significantly so. Wild.
ImAGrower
Yes. It's county by county in a lot of states. Town vary a little. But overall, the county tends to dictate if it's high or lower house/property tax. Patents have a 10acre piece of land with a 400kish house. 5.5k in taxes a year. They sold a 29acre chunk of land up the road that was almost the same per year for just land. But it's really only git this bad in the last 10-15 years. Taxes were much more reasonable before in early 2000s and last century.
10wreckedtenrecs
I am paying about the same for my place in Canada. My city is on the high side for property taxes. Also, average house price is now over $650000 for a pretty modest place so lots of fuckery for all.
10wreckedtenrecs
That being said, I love my neighbourhood and didn’t go bankrupt having 4 surgeries in 5 years.