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Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
The Northern European countries that have managed to create something close to the egalitarian societies many here are calling for have VATs (sales taxes) of 20-25 per cent.
By EU law, all member states must impose at least a 15 per cent VAT.
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These nordic states are not egalitarian in any way. They have massive gaps in wealth between the rich and poor:
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The distribution of net wealth is highly skewed in Norway. While average net wealth for households is NOK 1.6 million, the median net wealth is NOK 900 000. Households in the highest 10 percent for net wealth own roughly 53 per cent of total net wealth, the richest 1 per cent control 21 per cent, while the top 0.1 per cent own 10 per cent of total net wealth.
There is sharp rise in net wealth by age. While households headed by someone younger than 30 years of age had a median net wealth close to zero, median net wealth for households where the main income earner is in the late 60s was NOK 1.9 million. Even the oldest households have a substantial net wealth.
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https://www.ssb.no/a/english/publika..._201235_en.pdf
The Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark are all in the top 10 countries of wealth inequality:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/co...ity-by-country
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...lth_inequality
These countries have fantastic access to education and health care, but their high tax rates have made it very difficult for people, who don't already have wealth, to acquire it.