Sweden no longer has world’s highest tax burden

Sweden has long had the reputation of having the highest taxes in the world.

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But those times have past.

Denmark has now taken over as the country with the highest tax burden, according to website E24 and Danish newspaper Dagbladet Börsen.

Based on figures taken from the tax authorities in both countries, Danes now have a tax burden of 48.4 percent, compared to 47.8 percent for Swedes.

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt is happy that Sweden no longer has the world’s highest tax burden.

“Moreover, the Danish media isn’t even using the most recent information. This year we’re going to land down below 47 percent,” he told news agency TT.

The government doesn’t have a specific target for how much Sweden’s tax burden ought to change during its current term in office.

“What’s important is the direction,” said Reinfeldt, who wonders which will happen first, a tax burden below 45 percent or his turning 45 years old during the 2010 election campaign

Danish tax minister Kristian Jensen told the newspaper that recent tax cuts in Sweden also affect Danes and projects that employment taxes in Denmark will be lower by 2011 than they are today.

But Jensen couldn’t promise that the overall tax burden in Denmark would be lower as well.