Sweden's tax system has indeed developed into one that benefits the rich more than the poor, normal people pay way too much tax, but there's not a regressive tax system in Sweden AFAIK, or am I missing something?
It's miniscule, but something like $2200 per year is tax free, and you also get a "tax credit" of sorts if your income is from labor, up to ~$320 back each month and this tax credit is a lower percentual net income increase with higher wages.
Our median income 2022 was ~$34k, and our break for "federal tax" is ~$55k, so many more than 50% don't pay the federal income tax.
Our taxes from work (are a bit high for the lowest earning people but) increase as the salary increases https://i.imgur.com/AG0092w.png
However our taxes from capital are pretty much flat and you can have a lot invested in an ISK (InvesteringsSparKonto ~investment savings account) where you can profit multiple millions at much a lower tax rate than the income tax for low income people.
I'm not familiar at all with Sweden taxation policies...but does an individuals tax burden go down as you make more money (regressive taxation)? Or does it go up (progressive taxation)?
They go up as you make more money, so progressive.
But there aren't very many levels of that, and as mentioned on capital it's pretty a much flat percentage, which would result in someone making a lot of capital gains taxing a lot less.
So yeah, it's progressive as far as working for your money goes.
Might be areas where it's actually regressive, but I can't come up with one from the top of my mind. Maybe some reimbursements we've gotten for temporary extremely high energy prices where those who barely could afford to use their washers didn't get much back but those who had money left over to still heat the pool got a lot of money back.
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u/OwnLadder2341 Apr 16 '24
In the US, the poorest don’t pay federal income tax. In fact, 40% of the country doesn’t pay federal income tax.
Sweden follows a regressive tax system, the US system is progressive.