How do US Taxes compare to Scandinavia?

Sweden has made moves recently to reduce it's tax rates, so it is now only 2nd in the region in highest taxes with an effective rate of about 50 percent (Denmark is higher).

In the US, the federal effective rate is about 22 percent, and drops sharply if you earn less than 50K per household. Taxes in the US vary by local, but if you take a state like New York, they have an effective state income tax rate of 11.7 percent, and a state sales tax of 8 percent. In large counties and cities they have local sales taxes, so NYC's sales tax is 8.375 percent. Many states also have a property tax on your land and house based on value. Then, also there are special taxes on some commodities like fuel, booze, tobacco, ad infinitum...

The easiest way to measure tax burden by states is to measure total state tax per capita over avg income per capita, then add the federal burden. With progressive taxation though, the higher incomes will be pinched for more, and the lower for less (or none).

For New York, total tax income for the state in 2007 was 63,161,582,000 paid by 7,056,860 households (19,306,183 people) for an avg tax of $8950 per household ($3272 per person). Median household income for NY state residents is about $45,343. So the average tax for the average household in NY is about 19.7 percent on income. The federal effective tax rate is about 22 percent now, and will increase until 2012 when tax reduction laws sunset. (source: CBO, and US Census)

So for the average household in NY, they pay about 42 percent of there income in taxes. Those who make more would pay up to 25 percent more. For the highest 5 percent, they see a slight reduction in rate because they hit caps on things like FICA tax.

The bottom line... 42 percent is better than 50 percent, but not by much. The citizens of the US don't see the returns, since much of their taxes go to pay for wars, and very selective social programs (those over 65 years old and the very poor).

I would even say there is a valid argument that taxation in the US violates the constitution. Both the equal protection clause, and amendment 5 of the Bill of Rights, "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." Income is property in the context of the document, as in life, liberty, and property. The IRS has even implemented a law that makes it illegal to not pay your taxes based on constitutional arguments.