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Friday 15 May 2009
An Icy Oasis from the Great Meltdown

Norway works hard to stay on an even distributional keel. The wealthiest Norwegians pay a 47.8 percent tax on income over $105,368. The top income tax rate in the United States: just 35 percent.

The tax-the-rich contrast between Norway and the United States runs deeper than the simple difference between these two tax rates. Norway’s 47.8 percent top rate applies to both ordinary salary income and capital gains income from the buying and selling of stocks and bonds. Wealthy Americans pay only a 15 percent tax on their capital gains.…

…Norway is converting “petroleum wealth” into “financial wealth” and using this wealth to ensure a stable social safety net for all Norwegians. One benchmark of Norway’s success: Only 4 percent of Norwegian households with children, one study of developed world economies reported last October, rank as poor. The comparable poverty rate in the United States: 18 percent.

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