Dear John,

Despite common misperceptions, middle-class workers in Sweden — a country often celebrated by social democrats in Canada — pay relatively high taxes for Sweden’s large government!

The Realities of Socialism is a project by the Fraser Institute and a group of think tanks in the UK, Australia, and the United States.

Following our first book on Poland in June, today we have released the second book in the series, on Sweden.

Many of its findings are likely to be shocking to Canadians:

• Sweden has a larger government than Canada: in 2022 government spending in Sweden as a share of the economy was 46.8%, compared to 41.5% in Canada.
• The top personal income tax rate in Sweden applies to many average workers and families: their top personal income tax rate is comparable to ours, but their top tax rate applies to income starting at just US$62,000 – compared to US$177,000 in Canada.
• Sweden’s national sales tax rate is very high: at 25%, it dwarfs the combined federal GST and provincial sales tax rates in Canada, which range from 5% in Alberta to 15% in the Atlantic provinces.

According to polling data released in 2023, average Canadians would be highly unlikely to accept Sweden’s high taxes!

Learn more and download the entire book – for free – at RealitiesOfSocialism.org.

Sincerely,

Niels Veldhuis
President
The Fraser Institute