[spwa4]

Well currently about 3 working people are paying 1 pension. So that's where 33% of your taxes are going to. By 2050 that will be about 1.8. So that 33% will have to become 55% JUST to maintain current state expenditures. And it will keep dropping.

Which would make your 47% tax a 70% tax (minimum) in the current funding model. And that's assuming no rise in unemployment or anything like that.

That's actually pretty good compared to northwest Europe. I mean Norway has about 1500 euro per person per month in "free" taxes (from oil sales), which will also disappear, probably sooner than 2050. So add that, I guess.

Looking at those numbers, of course, one can easily see that the current financial structure of states will just not support that level of state expenditure (and it's a labor problem, not a money problem). So that is not what will happen because it simply can't.