Taxation In Sweden

[Thales]

I came upon this story about NHL players from Sweden. As many know, the NHL is locking players out right now over financial troubles. However, Swedish players are coming back to North America, because of taxes.

Here is the story.

Here is an excerpt:

The reason some NHL stars from Sweden aren't playing for their home fans isn't that they want to be paid more. They want to pay less. A wealth tax and high insurance costs are keeping them from working at home.

Markus Naslund has said it's the tax that brought him back to North America. According to the Swedish government website on tax laws, if someone stays in Sweden for more than six months continuously, he is subject to a 1.5 percent tax on his total worth -- salary, savings, investments, property, jewelry, etc. The tax kicks in for a single person worth more than 1.5 million Swedish krona or a married couple worth 2 million krona -- which converts to approximately $274,000 U.S. Let's say a player has a net worth of $50 million. A 1.5 percent tax on that would be $750,000.

I thought this was a good datum point on how taxes affect people. The more talented you are, the more likely you're going to want to stay out of Sweden!