Taxes in Sweden are generally effortless. Deductions, investments and benefits are often generous and easy to file. Unfortunately if you are more modest the story is a bit different.

It is great if you are established. You might have a big house, high maintenance costs, use cleaning services, invest a lot in the stock market and other things that comes with all that. Because not only is it easy but you get a lot of public benefits as well like health care, affordable student loans and mortgages, cost-free education and kindergarten, sick leave and affordable private additions to many of those. You can even use the ease of that to do things like start a company on the side.

For us that are more modest and don't have a lot of assets but mostly want work, get health care and do something else once in a while, it is still a good system. I once checked and approved my taxes in the middle of the night, from a bar, in China. But overall there isn't as much benefit. If I don't want to pay a higher tax rate than those who use all those deductions and want some flexibility in how I use my income (which I honestly rather wouldn't) I need to start a company. But then I would have to file much more complicated taxes and therefor get much less enjoyment from taxes being easy for personal income. Still by not doing so I am giving up tens of thousands of dollars a year.

So while I am in no way suggesting that the US system is better or even comparable, the Swedish tax system today have many of the same overall problems. And that is unfortunately more and more true of other systems as well.

You actually benefit indirectly.

By having a transparent semi-automatic system and making it easier to do "the right thing", Sweden (and neighbours) collect more taxes that pay for health care, education and other benefits that you can use

You're comparing the tax system, but the main topic is simply the act of filing your taxes.

Which is indeed extremely easy here in Sweden comparatively.

I am not really comparing tax system, or at least that isn't the intention. The Swedish tax system is easy as long as you stick to those accounted for benefits.

Say if you make a $100k a year and you pay social security for public pension among other things but public pension only gives you credit up to $50k a year. Now if you have a big house you can deduct renovations so your income is for tax purposes is, say, $75k.

If you don't have a big house and your income is a $100k you still get the same public pension but are taxed on the full amount. Now if you started a company and hired yourself through that you could lower your personal income and instead take out dividend so you are also taxed on $75k. But to do that you now have to file much more complicated taxes, with actual accounts and often accountants.

In reality it is even worse because many do the first thing but then also have a company. So they pay themselves $50k a year and then use deductions on that to lower the effective amount even more. So I am out here paying on $100k so they can have a nice life. (The numbers are made up, salaries and individual benefits are usually less than that and the example might not be entirely accurate but the overall point stands).

None of this really relates to the US tax system, but it is a similar problem in that if I want the best financial situation (by a decent margin) I need to do complicated taxes and a lot of people do mainly for tax purposes. Swedish sentiments just haven't caught up to that yet.

Tax deduction for renovations is $5k per year ($7.5k next year). Or well, less now that 1 USD is 11 SEK instead of 10.

You make it sound like you can just start a company and hire yourself, and the biggest drawback would be more complicated taxes... No, the biggest drawback is that you're starting a business and taking a (much) larger risk than being employed. Hiring an accountant to help with the bookkeeping is a minor thing in comparison.

> then I would have to file much more complicated taxes and therefor get much less enjoyment from taxes being easy for personal income. Still by not doing so I am giving up tens of thousands of dollars a year.

For tens of thousands of dollars per year, surely some tax/company admin service exists that could offload the vast majority of the tedium from you, leaving you with perhaps 10-20 hours of effort/personal attention per year. Even if they take half of the $20+K savings as their fee, that leaves you with $10+K to put in your pocket for a little over a day of total effort. That's $500-$1000 or more per hour of effort (all tax-free).

That seems like a huge overlay for you.

I am simplifying a bit. I would have to change from employment to invoicing my employer. That would be somewhat beneficial. The real move is to get a new contract with someone else which is very much doable and not as hard as consulting or contracting in other countries can sometimes be. Then you get paid a bit of a premium and can really use the tax benefits of controlling your personal income tax and give out dividends[0].

The things for me is if I go through the trouble I might just do it properly. But that I want to do even less. So then there are a lot more options on the table. If I'm really going to change things up maybe I change careers, location, study, travel or whatever. Which is probably a fallacy.

But I guess the point is that when I file those easy taxes and even tough I don't really dislike taxes or the Swedish tax system I don't think that is the whole story. If you have decent income, and mostly only income, and can't use those personal income tax deductions your tax rate is high enough (50-60% marginal) that it is quite beneficial to hire yourself through a company and get access to those other tax breaks. And if you do then you do complicated taxes (compared to personal taxes).

[0] Basically this. (It's translated to consulting but it isn't really and true for any small company). https://github-com.translate.goog/tomasbjerre/starta-eget-ko...

So does that mean that literally everyone who sends in tax information other than accepting the government's calculations is a huge audit target?

Nah, they do some risk analysis etc.

Me and my SO has had to change ours for many, many years because the banks can only report interest paid on our loan on one of us. So one has to reduce the other has to add this entry. Every year. Never had an audit nor heard anyone else who's had it.