Rick Steves' Travel as a Political Act Blog - Europe’s "Big Government": High Taxes with High Expectations

Europe’s "Big Government": High Taxes with High Expectations

While Europe has its share of economic woes, there's no denying that Europeans have created a vast free trade zone that's become competitive with the United States and the emerging economic giants of China and India. With the unification of Europe, hundreds of millions of people now have the same euro coins jingling in their pockets...and the value of those euros has skyrocketed.

While in past years it seems Americans have been given two options (big, bad government or little, good government), Europeans are more likely to strive for a third option: big, good government.

In American politics, "socialism" is often perceived as an all-or-none bogeyman, evoking the stifling Soviet system of the Cold War. This thinking, which fixates on a Stalin-style oppression that has nothing to do with today's European socialism, ignores the reality that socialism is a spectrum. Every society on earth — including our own — includes some socialistic elements (such as our progressive taxation).

Like us, Europe is enthusiastically capitalistic. Europeans are just more comfortable with a higher degree of socialism. Most Europeans continue to favor their existing high tax rates because they believe that collectively creating the society of their dreams is more important than allowing individuals to create the personal empire of their dreams.

While American culture tends to be individualistic — inspired by “up by the bootstraps” and “rags to riches” stories — Europe is more focused on community. While we are more religious, Europe is more humanistic. In Scandinavia — the most highly taxed, socialistic, and humanistic corner of Europe — you don't find a church with a spire on the main square. You find a city hall with a bell tower. Inside, a secular nave leads not to a pulpit, but to a lectern. Behind that lectern, a grand mosaic tells epic stories — not from the Bible, but celebrating heroic individuals who contributed mightily to their community.

Europeans pay high taxes to buy big, good government...and expect results. Those results include an extensive social-welfare network that puts the financial burden of childcare, healthcare, education, and retirement on the collective shoulders of society, rather than on individuals. I once asked Olle, my Swiss friend, "How can you Swiss people be so docile about paying such high taxes?" Without missing a beat, he replied, "Well, what's it worth to live in a society where there is no homelessness, no hunger, and where everybody enjoys equal access to quality healthcare and education?"

About This Entry

You are reading "Europe’s "Big Government": High Taxes with High Expectations", an entry posted on 22 July 2009 by Rick Steves.

6 replies to this entry. Add your comment below.

Previous Entry, Europhiles and Euroskeptics, posted Jul 20 2009

Next Entry, The Trade-Offs of European Socialism, posted Jul 24 2009

Comments [ top ]

A very relevant post based on what is going on in our country today. We are looking at a united health care system which a slight majority of Americans oppose. Higher taxes are looming and there is much debate and frustration over this. Sweden, with its high taxes and socialist govt, was named the happiest nation on earth. And while that is part of the equation, a story I read yesterday said a lot of this may be due to the fact that they have low expectations in life so it's easier to be content in the present. We are beginning to ask questions and wrestle with many of the same issues we have seen in Europe. Ironically, with Europe's struggling economy and mounting racial and ethnic tension, they are asking many of the same issues we have had to deal with in our country. It seems we could learn from each other but are very different in how we look at life. I have always valued Europe for it community. For anyone who has spent time there, they realize it is something that many of us lack here in our culture in America. Because of that community attitude, the socialist policies make sense. I don't know that we will come to those same conclusions because we are more individualistic. I don't know if socialist policies can work in a country of our size. But these are very relevant questions to ask and issues to ponder and it makes me think. I have drawn some of my own opinions on this but it's good to see our differences, learn from, and talk about them.

Posted by: Jeremy B - Jul 23, 2009 3:40 PM

You would think that as so few of us Americans ever realize our "personal" financial empire, we would opt for a system that takes care of our health, jobs and retirement. But, alas, we Americans confuse business with pleasure.

Posted by: John J. Bannan - Jul 27, 2009 1:02 PM

Rick i have to say that you are passing on wrong information to people. you are going in to too many details and speculations. i hate your work

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Posted by: timberland work shoes - Aug 29, 2010 12:54 AM

Wow. To think that American tax dollars go to a guy who can't help but to promote everything not American. This is why conservatives want to de-fund PBS and NPR. It's not that I think everybody on PBS has to fall in line with the U.S. party in control. Just the same, should somebody who is anti-American be government funded? Rick Steves is so far left it's not funny. I saw his show for the first time today and felt the need to look a little closer. Scary.

Posted by: Ren - Jul 18, 2011 2:00 PM

writen in 2009.....2012 and look at europe collapsing first the south and soon the north. after traveling in europe for many years i find i love the common people and culture but i have always seen the governments there the same wat as C.S.Lewis saw them "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience". A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. and as for forced heath care tax...If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free...

Posted by: sid venomous - Apr 05, 2012 4:10 PM