Simple question: have you seen how high the tax burden is in Sweden?
It's absolutely fine to want world-class services like the Swedes enjoy, but the corollary must be that we should be prepared to pay for them just as much as the Swedes do.
Can't have one without the other.
It's absolutely fine to want world-class services like the Swedes enjoy, but the corollary must be that we should be prepared to pay for them just as much as the Swedes do.
Can't have one without the other.
This is an old article, but I am linking to it because it explains the difference so well. Back then the overall tax burden in the UK was 36.6% of GDP, vs 48.2% in Sweden. That difference if replicated today would mean raising £236 billion a year more tax!
amp.theguardian.com/money/2008/nov…
amp.theguardian.com/money/2008/nov…
£236 billion *more* tax per year, every year. That's the price of paying for Sweden-level public services.
So to look to Scandinavia or Austria or other high-tax jurisdictions as examples of what the state can do, without looking at the tax implications, is only half the story!
So to look to Scandinavia or Austria or other high-tax jurisdictions as examples of what the state can do, without looking at the tax implications, is only half the story!
So next time someone is trying to silence criticism of plans for our public services because other European states offer much, much better ones... ask them about the missing half of the picture. Ask them about the taxes.
If they get angry, it means they don't have a real answer.
If they get angry, it means they don't have a real answer.
This thread is what a proper adult conversation on the topic should look like.
999 times out of a thousand, you won't get to have one because you'll be accused of trying to do down or sabotage reforms.
Your only sin? Asking reasonably and logically how they will be paid for...
999 times out of a thousand, you won't get to have one because you'll be accused of trying to do down or sabotage reforms.
Your only sin? Asking reasonably and logically how they will be paid for...
And this is the kind of thing I'm talking about...
Put another way: to raise the same % of GDP in taxes here in the UK as Sweden does, the entire tax burden across the UK (income tax, council tax, VAT, corporation tax etc etc etc) would have to rise by *a third*.
That's the level of the difference between them and us.
That's the level of the difference between them and us.
