[gordner]

Originally Posted by dw1

I was never a resident of Sweden, but my company is headquartered there and I spent a lot of time working with the folks in Sweden, and spending time there and in Germany.

Like living in any major city, Stockholm is relatively expensive, but based on my observations & discussions with residents a "regular Joe" can have a good life outside of the expensive parts of the city. Better yet, outside of the city itself. Notably, boats as "toys"are a big thing (and relatively common) in some parts of Sweden. It appears from my observations that Sweden is not as "car culture" oriented as the US (or Germany).

It appears that the European taxes that are emphasized by media in the US are overstated. We had some folks residing in the US (Bergen County, NJ) for several years, and they pointed out that when they combined local, state and federal taxes & fees they were paying in the US, they were actually paying more here than in Europe for a similar lifestyle. One point they made was that there were not so many different entities with their hands out back home. Admittedly, NJ's property taxes are notoriously expensive, but it did make for an interesting comparison.

I often travel to the states for work, and the subject of taxes always comes up. I have been consistently surprised to do the math and find out that our relative effective tax rates are very very comparable. And that is without adding in what you guys pay for health insurance.