think or thwim

A 1994 documentary about The Netherlands, common sense capital of the world.

• Universal low cost health care.
• Free education for all.
• Mostly legal cannibus.
• Legal prostitution.
• Bikes everywhere.
• Equal treatment for gays.
• Tolerance of abortion.
• No death penalty.
• Guns are illegal.
• Lowest prison population in the western world.

Peaceful coexistance and tolerance. It’s like the ideals of the 60s really stuck there.

The current income taxes range from 34.4% to 52% (including social security tax). There’s another 6% tax on food and essentials, and 19% on luxury items. Corporations pay 20-25% taxes.

In the US the income tax ranges from 17% to 42% (including social security). Sales tax is generally around 8%. Corporations pay 15-35%. The difference looks a little bigger when you look at taxes collected compared to GDP.

By the way, Holland is a region within The Netherlands. The people that live in The Netherlands should be called the Netherlanders, but they’re not. They’re called the Dutch. It’s confusing as hell to Americans, but they don’t seem to mind their whole country being called Holland once in a while. They’re pretty laid back about things like that.

This site has a lot of Dutch readers (ranked 4th this month after US, UK, and Austrailia). I’d like to know what you Netherlanders think about this documentary. Is it accurate? Is there a downside to living in the most liberal country?