Because here in America, when they take my money, it's to give away to oil companies and weapons dealers. Not to give us all health care and affordable housing.
this post was submitted on 28 Apr 2024
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Americans actually pay more per capita towards public healthcare than most Europeans, but it just covers so much less (Medicaid and Medicare) because of insane healthcare prices.
Don't forget bailing out hospitals etc. when people invariably default on their medical debt. On expensive ER bills that only exist because people couldn't afford to visit a GP five years earlier and get some cheap off the shelf preventive medicine.
Also, and this really shouldn't be underestimated: Laws concerning everything from food regulations over transportation polity to sports promotion that don't take people's health into account because health is a private matter. With socialised healthcare, suddenly all those new fancy bike paths have a tangible ROI in yet another public budget (not just the transportation agency's one, that is).
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Two word to solve this: Public Healthcare.
Iinm medicaid/medicare is a government health insurance scheme that only given to selected individuals, and care is provided by private owned hospital, while Europe(and a lot of other place in the world) practice universal public healthcare, where the hospital is owned and run by government. This way, the government wouldn't get squeezed dry by the exorbitant cost of private healthcare, while at the same time wouldn't need to pick and choose who is eligible. Private hospital is there to provide value added service for people who can afford it.
In many places in Europe, they have a so-called "treatment guarantee," which means that if the wait is longer than 30 days for non-emergency treatment and procedures referred by a doctor, you can elect treatment at the private hospital instead of a public hospital. No charge.
For emergencies, you are always treated immediately at either a public or private hospital.
E: I'm mentioning this because I've encountered a large number of uninformed Americans who always start crying about "people dying on wait-lists in Europe and Canada unlike in America." No.
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55% of tax dollars in the united states goes to social programs, social security, and healthcare.
I saw them give trillions of free dollars to companies that had just received three years of extremely vigorous tax cuts.
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The Swedish tax agency is pretty well respected because they have their shit together. When it's time for us to do our taxes, we get forms sent home already filled in by the tax agency, and for most people those numbers are accurate and it takes less than a minute for us to do our taxes. Send a text message and you're done. And usually what happens is you get money back.
Not to mention, their taxes go to social programs and can be seen in use, improving the lives of citizens. In the US, our roads are shit, our infrastructure in general is shit, our social programs are a fuckin joke…our tax money isn’t being used for us. That’s the biggest difference.
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Sweden has historically been ethnically close to homogeneous (until the 20th century, life in Scandinavia was hard, and few wanted to move there) and has a relatively flat social hierarchy, meaning that redistributive taxation to fund services is popular (after all, if everyone needs a specific service, having the government provide it through taxes is an economy of scale). America, meanwhile, was founded on racial slavery, which resulted in a racial hierarchy (i.e., the definition of who counts as “white” shifting over time), and there’s a non-negligible proportion of voters who would resent being taxed extra to help lift those below them in this hierarchy closer to their level.
It’s because we get so little for those taxes. If we actually had functional services, I would feel like it’s worth it.
We’re losing that in Sweden though. Public healthcare is becoming more and more under funded. Doctors barely have time to treat patients, so they’re often sending patients home with prescribed paracetamol.
The only way to get proper healthcare nowadays is through private healthcare, if you can afford it. I know many who haven’t gotten proper healthcare until they sought private healthcare. It sucks, because it used to be great.
And people vote for that shit because politicians dangle tax cuts in front of their faces. It's really sad to see swedes fall for the lower taxes scam, when our entire thing is built on taxes.
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"Government doesn't work, we need less government" said unironically by the person elected to run the government.
It’s like how they’ve installed that DeJoy person to dismantle the Postal Service from inside out and then complain that the Postal Service is having issues, so we should ~~privatize~~ donate the business to rich people so their disgusting amounts of wealth can trickle down on our faces or something.
We should stop voting for people who promise to dismantle said services. We also really need to move towards a basic income setup instead of having all of the hoops and paperwork for people to prove they are eligible for whatever it is. In the USA people going on disability are always denied even if they are a paraplegic. We would spend so much less money and other resources if we just made it available to everyone with no proof of eligibility needed.
Also Sweden’s population is about the size of Los Angeles county. Every time I see Scandinavia held up as something to aspire to folks should remember how small and historically homogenous these countries are.
Comparing the US to the EU as a whole is a much more accurate way to look at things, with us states being akin to eu member countries.
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When the term “That’s your tax dollars at work” doesn’t need a /s because it’s just assumed – there’s your problem.
it's nice to pay taxes if you can actually see the benefits somewhere
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Because Americans let movie stars and reality show con-men drive the train and idolize their asinine tomfoolery like it's a goddamn team sport. Garbage in garbage out. Why is this even a question, what the fuck. This shit is as obvious as hot pink wallpaper.
American culture is mentally ill.
I think the question is stupid, and I'm not sure why we need to bring the Swedes in. Why not just say Why do Americans Hate Taxes? You'll get a variety of answers, some in the vein you've described.
Me, I live in Jersey (New), and we pay a lot in taxes. I'm pro tax, but at the same time I'm also critical about how my taxes are wasted, and I say that because they certainly are. So it's a love hate relationship I guess. I say this just because I don't think it's fair to assume everyone is all hurr durr small government (when it's convenient) nonsense. I just want smarter spending. And I live in a state that's as blue as they come, I vote for them, but our mediocre transit system is on the brink of disaster (like, every election it seems), despite me sending a bunch of my money to NJ, as an example.
Pretty sure they'd be fine with it if trillions and trillions didn't disappear into military and black budgets (ie transferring money to their friends)
As a US citizen I don't feel like I get a good ROI on my taxes. It's a small percentage of upkeep for public things, some below average public education, and a shit ton of weaponry.
I find it funny that people are saying “well my taxes go to things I don’t want to support like oil companies and football teams”
Meanwhile in Texas, the most tax-hating state in the US, they love oil companies and private business eating up public funds.
Ironic.
Perhaps, just maybe, those two things are said by different people.
I never had any real issues with taxes back when groceries, rent and insurance were affordable.
The issues came to light when life started to cost 1.5 times our income, while still having to pay 40% on income and an extra 20% on expenses. I'd rather pay less taxes and eat, when taxes don't do anything. I also learned that our safety nets are a scam, they set up so many bullshit rules that when i needed it they literally went: "you have the right to receive €800 but you won't get it, no matter how hard you try". I tried for a year until i realised our money is just being stolen under the cover of "taxes".
Yep, if taxes are preventing you from having a minimum of a comfortable standard of living then what is the point? That money should be coming out of the pockets of those that can afford it.
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Maybe people wouldn’t hate taxes if they were put to good use, not squandered on shit we don’t want and corruption. We have to watch as all our taxes go to pay corrupt politicians hundreds of thousands of dollars and cover all their expenses, meanwhile this year our elementary and middle schools are getting their sports/music/art classes cut because there isn’t enough budget.
That's a surprise. In most US schools they'll cut STEM and language and have rolling blackouts before they cut sports.
You’re thinking high school and college.
Americans hate this one Swede trick.
I mean, its an inaccurate title.
The Swedes have had a number of popular tax revolts in living memory. The big one was back in 1979 (about the same time Americans and Brits were having their own tax revolt) when they threw out the socialist government and brought in a bunch of neoliberal reformers.
Swedes overhauled their tax code in 1985, 1991, and 1994 and then did so again in the 2004 when they abolished inheritance and gift taxes with a unanimous vote.
Until fairly recently, Sweden has been undergoing the same set of neoliberal policies common to western nations. But thanks to being a relatively small economy with an outsized O&G export market, they've skated by what industrial centers in the American Midwest and agg sectors in France and the UK have suffered.
Sweden isn't a high-tax state, its a petro-state with the appearance of high taxes.
Oil and gas products account for 4.2% of Sweden's exports. The gas exports alone almost rival those of dairy and eggs! Truly a petrostate if I ever saw one
Are you perhaps thinking of a different country?
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There's quite a lot of Swedes that complain about the taxes here still though, sadly enough
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Its almost as though efficient utilization of tax revenue offsets the hatred of paying taxes. I just threatened my 1st cousins into pitching in $100 each to buy a 2nd cousin of ours a cello after I asker if she planned on continuing to play thru college and she said no she can't afford school, dorms and instrument rental. I looked for programs that actually helped students like her but found nothing of actual use. You can do more help with your own money than giving it to the government or charities.
It also helps if paying taxes isn't overly convoluted. The way doing taxes works for me is
- The tax agency sends out their calculations
- I complete with any complementary information (there's never been any)
- I sign off on the bank ID app
We're talking a couple of button clicks and it's done entirely online.
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