[_delirium]

> Taxes are way too high

As an American who's moved to Denmark, I really don't see this, at least for anyone in the middle class. I make a middle-class professional income, and my overall effective tax rate is about 40% (incl. payroll taxes). I moved from California, where the overall effective state+federal tax rates on the same income would be around 35% (also incl. payroll taxes). A 5% difference isn't really enough for me to care much; the two countries differ in so many other ways that a 5% tax difference is way down on the list of why I would choose to remain in Denmark or return to the US. I'll probably eventually return to the U.S., but mostly because it feels more culturally like "home" (I'm American and not Danish, and that's something relatively difficult to change), not because I feel oppressed by taxes here.

[moonchrome]

Don't they also have a 25% VAT ? And higher living expenses because of it, so even with a 60,961 nominal GDP/per capita (5th in the world) when you correct for PPP it's 37,585$ (17th).

[_delirium]

Living expenses vary in a lot of complex ways, yeah, depending on your lifestyle. I find cost of living here overall cheaper than in the SF Bay Area for my own lifestyle though, mostly due to transportation and healthcare. I was able to sell my car, ditch my gasoline/insurance expenses, and no longer have to pay co-pays or employee contributions for my health insurance. People with other lifestyles may find it more expensive, especially if you want to buy a car (which has its own separate, very high taxes).

I'm not sure VAT is a big component of the difference. I think housing costs and high wages are the biggest factor. Grocery prices are slightly higher (perhaps due to VAT), but we're talking differences there that add up to maybe 1% of my income annually. Eating out is much more expensive, mainly because everyone employed in the restaurant is making at least a lower-middle-class salary (~$40k or so... nobody's working for $7/hr). Rental housing in Copenhagen is more expensive than most of the Bay Area, but cheaper than SF proper or NYC. Housing to purchase is actually quite cheap; you can get a 2bd in reasonably central Copenhagen for $200k, which is completely impossible in SF or NYC.

I suppose the PPP comparison is made against the U.S. as a whole, in which case cost of living is definitely higher than, say, the midwest or Texas. But I don't think it's particularly high compared to coastal US prices. If you want to buy housing, if anything CoL is considerably lower.