It's also interesting to compare the tax burden plus the costs of healthcare: since the U.S. medical system is so inefficient that tends to close the gap even further: e.g. taking those figures shows the average Dane making 54,013 and paying 36.1% (19,444) while the average American makes 50,964 and pays 25.6% (12,741). That $6,703 difference looks great until you notice that Denmark pays for almost all of their citizens healthcare cost but the average American has to kick in an extra $4-5K, steadily increasing year-over-year:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/health-costs-how-the-us-...