So I decided to stay away from the environment on this post just to mix things up. Today I will be talking about why Swedes are okay with paying such high taxes. So according to Sweden.Se the official Sweden website 83% of Swedes say that they have confidence in the government agency. So this can be broken up into four parts:
1. A highly trusted public body. Skatteverket, the Swedish Tax Agency is very popular and very well trusted. Most people feel that the taxes are done fairly.
2. The Tax agency is also responsible for population registration. When a baby is born the agency registers the birth and send out a personal identity number. The parents then apply to register the babies name through the tax company, the tax company then has the power to reject names. Also when you decide to get marries you must apply to the tax agency for a investigation of impediments to marriage. You must also notify this agency of any address changes and deaths.
3. It is a societal norm to pay high taxes. Taxes aren't seen as a negative things as it is in most countries. The Swedish word for tax is skatt which also means treasure. Another reason the Tax Agency has such a positive view is because of it's customer-friendliness and accessibility. Almost all tax errands can be done technologically.
4. The tax agency also takes the initiative. If something happens it knows about it and sends you the forms need to fix it , so that your tax return shows up in your mailbox already filled out. In the case of having a baby the hospital informs the authority and registers the birth so you don't have to.
So as you can see the tax agency in Sweden has a pretty positive view about it. That's not to say all Swedes love taxes but as a society their view is a lot more negative than a majority of countries.
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