$102k/year = DKK 759288/year = DKK 63274/month.
Typing 63274 into https://hvormegetefterskat.dk (howmuchaftertax) says 40.2% tax rate.
The you have to factor in $0 in health costs (gratis hospital and doctor visits), no payments for kids attending university, 32 weeks of paid maternal leave, and 5 weeks of mandatory holiday each year.
This sounds great if you're the type to have a family. Otherwise, seems like you kind of get screwed?
In the US you can definitely bring home more dollars in absolute terms, but I've found if you actually compare total life costs and standards of living you end up at fairly similar % between SV and Europe.
If I even notice something weird that freaks me out I go to the doctor. Mental health care, physiotherapy, certain tests and imaging. You get a yearly allocation to use up. GP visits are all "free". I never have to worry about it and I don't want the less fortunate to worry about it either. I would never want to live in the US. I cannot imagine how much extra stress and anxiety I would have without that layer of support.
$50k after tax in Denmark needs to pay for fewer expenses than $50k after tax in USA.
So it is not a valid comparison to just compare income tax and VAT.
In this case Denmark ends up not being more expensive for a nice middle class life. It's just that ill-informed people thinks otherwise. Quality of life in Denmark is higher: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/rankings/quality-...
>So very wrong [...] 40.2% tax rate.
What!? That's definitely high, man.