From The Talks, an interview with the actor Stellan Skarsgård. People have good sense in Sweden.
Mr. Skarsgård, where do you live?
I live in Sweden because the taxes are higher, nobody is starving, good health care, free schools and universities. It’s a civilized country and I like that.
You prefer paying higher taxes?
Of course. If you make a lot of money like I do you should pay higher taxes. Everybody should have the possibility to go to school, and university, and have good healthcare.
Goodness. How reasonable, and how rare.
So, the American neo-liberal disease hasn’t infected every Western nation, perhaps some societies are immune.
Just yesterday they (CTV Toronto) had a segment on the evening news hour about how we (can’t recall who that is–Torontonians, Ontarians, or Canadians) are paying more for taxes than for “necessities”. Arrgh. I wanted to chuck my dinner at the screen. What? Roads aren’t necessities? Transit isn’t a necessity? Health care isn’t a necessity? Fire & paramedics & police aren’t necessities? Snow removal isn’t a necessity? A judiciary isn’t a necessity? Government workers and schools and teachers and universities aren’t necessities? Garbage pickup? Sewers and water treatment? Food inspectors? And then they go interview a guy in a grocery store parking lot who says “Yeah it’s a robbery!” Thanks for that, Colin D’Mello.
Don’t tell Washington, or the arch-capitalists will be arguing for “regime change”
“I have no problem paying taxes. I don’t want to live in a country that sucks.”
Even Oliver Wendell Holmes, who could be wrong enough (sterilization) said taxes were the price we pay for civilization. But it does seem some USians don’t like civilization…
There was a brilliant documentary called “The Crumbling of America” created shortly after the Mpls bridge collapse. Taxes being levied to address infrastructure nightmares would get people to the workforce and prevent even worse catastrophes. I can assure you, that death toll could have been so much worse…. Your post makes me <3 Stellan Skarsgard even more 🙂
Isn’t it clear – the man is a commy.
Ibis3 #2
That was from a report by the Fraser Institute I believe, so I was not exactly surprised by their thinking this was a meaningful finding. Sadly reports like this appeal to a lot of people, it appears many people really have not put a lot of thought into where their taxes go or what they pay for and what they would do without all of those dollars support everything around them. They just know their money is being stolen from them.
This guy is the opposite of Gerard Depardieu.
Of course in Denmark our ‘intellectuals’ emigrate to Sweden to avoid high taxes or Cuba to rape teenagers.