Reply #62: The view from Denmark on your friend's observations

[Celefin]

First of all, it's nice to see that people still have such a nice impression of my country.

The 200% tax on cars is real and only in place because we don't have an automotive industry to protect, but it's not such a big deal since you can survive quite well without a car in most places except for the really rural regions in the west and northwest of the country. Gas is about 10$ per gallon, just like in the rest of Scandinavia and central Europe which is annoying, but thanks to the generally high mileage of most cars here not really a problem. Also, for most Danes, commuting distances are not that big, although 50 miles is quite common. But you get to deduct your commuting expenses from tax, so again it's not much of a problem.

where I live, near a medium size town in central Jutland, almost every family has a car, usually two cars. And Danes LOVE their cars, the bigger and shinier the better. They also love huge houses, patio heaters, lawn mowers (oh yes, the lawn mowers. I think there must be a law somewhere here that you can't be a full citizen if you don't spend 10% of your income on fuel for lawn mowers large enough to compete with combine harvesters, but that is taking a bit to far I guess :b )
I really wouldn't call the Danish lifestyle 'modest'. It really isn't. It is 'greener' than most consumer societies, but it is still based on excessive consumption. A 'modest' Danish life is much more comfortable than 'modest' lives in other parts of Europe though.

People on low income pay about 35% in tax, progressing up to 50% with a surtax added on very high incomes (the latter is about to be scrapped). Healthcare is provided by an NHS-like system free at the point of use although you pay a percentage of the price of any medicine you require, also, dental health is completely private and you have to pay it in full, no exemptions for adults. For anybody under the age of 18 though, seeing a dentist is free, no matter how complicated the treatment. This of course saves people a ton of money in their later years, as they will grow up to be adults with healthy teeth.

If you want to go to a private specialist doctor or hospital, you will have to pay yourself, although you can get partly refunded if the treatment wasn't available at a public facility. There is no such thing as a private, for profit health insurance to date.

Other things you get for your taxes include the right to have you child in highly subsidized daycare (up to 48 hours/week) as soon as it is 6 months old. The standard rate is about 400$ per month for your first child, 200$ per month for your second child, any additional children are free. The result is the highest birthrate in Europe (leading to fairly healthy demographics) and most families having two more or less equal incomes.

Mind you, the centre-right government of the last 10 years (that would probably be centre-left compared to the Democratic party in most aspects) has cut a lot of it down, given tax breaks to the wealthy, involved us in three wars, wasted billions on establishing a 'market' for private healthcare, privatized large chunks of public transport while underfunding and mismanaging the public hospitals, state railways and childcare system. They've also bailed out some of our banks three times despite us having enough healthy banks that could have taken over from those going to the wall. But then they would have lost their biggest donors.

Courtesy of the fringe-right 'Danish People's Party', coalition member of the last ten years, we also have the toughest immigration policies in the world. So unless you can prove you have a job when arriving from the US, you're not allowed to stay, sorry.
If you are going to marry a Danish national and the Danish person chooses to live with you in the US for a while, he or she will loose the right to return to Denmark with his/her family as "your combined attachment to the US is larger than to Denmark". I'm not making this up, Denmark is the only country in the world where a citizen can loose their right to return by living somewhere else for an extended period of time. Madness.
Ah yes, and if you choose to follow your Danish love to Denmark right away, you can't do so if you're under 24. This has had the bizarre consequence, that 15000 Danes currently live in southern Sweden, commuting to Copenhagen, while they wait for their spouse to reach the magical 24. another 10000 liver in this 'marriage-exile' in northern Germany. A few of them will be exiled permanently that way, as, again, their "combined attachment" to Denmark will have fallen below what is required.

So yes, Denmark is great for many things.
It DOES have its drawbacks, though.
At least we got rid of the government a few weeks ago ans replaced with a social democrat - socialist - liberal coalition supported by the communists. Pretty weak, but better than centre-right.

Congrats if you've read this far without being bored to tears :)
Just felt the urge to offer some perspective.