Swedish Taxes

I just did my taxes for Sweden - okay, this is easy, as I just have a summer house and have to pay property taxes. But it took me all of 21 minutes. Including cleaning off the kitchen table to find space to spread out the paper and read the directions.

See, the Swedish government knows EVERYTHING about you, and then have it all online. They know where you live, even if you are in a foreign country. They just send you a tax form already filled out. They know what you earned, how many dependents you have, all other details. They even figure out if you are entitled to a refund or have to pay.

Swedish tax is easy: add up all you earned, multiply by the tax rate where your house is located, pay that amount. Almost no deductions or anything. There is, I suppose, a box for entering in black-market earnings, but surely no one remembers to fill that out.

On the one hand, it scares me that all my personal details are known to the state. On the other hand, paying taxes is really simple. Luckily, I don't have to fill out US tax forms any more - the advantage of now being German. German taxes? I gave up years ago and dump a box of stuff at my tax preparers office. They at least understand the language of the tax law, which I don't.