The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life

by Anu Partanen

how much did I pay in taxes? The figure came to $18,973 in national and municipal taxes, or 30.6 percent. Before drawing a conclusion about that figure, keep in mind that I didn’t have much else to pay beyond that. For example, property taxes in Finland have a much smaller impact than in the United States. Here are some of the things that paying my Finnish taxes bought me: smoothly functioning and comprehensive health insurance, a full year of partially paid disability leave, nearly a full year of paid parental leave for each child and a smaller monthly benefit for an additional two years (should I or the father of my child choose to stay at home longer with our child), affordable high-quality day care, one of the world’s best K–12 education systems, free college, and free graduate school. My taxes in Finland were not used to hand out money to some lazy moochers living on welfare; instead they were used to pay for high-quality services for me. As far as I was concerned, it was a bargain.