No Comment: Denmark's Parliament members get free iPhones

lol

Eh, did someone say 42% tax rate? No, no, income tax is 38%+8% (above ca. 8000 USD), then +15% above approx 70.000 USD.

But that's not all. Want to buy a car? A nice 8.000 USD car, will cost you an extra 25% (consumer goods tax that's on everything) and another 180% (yes, 180%). So, 28.000 USD for a 8.000 USD car. Get one for the price of 3,5!

Plus all the other taxes... It has been calculated that when you add all of these taxes (extra taxes on gas, liquor, cigarettes, owning property etc.), Danes pay >80% to the state.

F%&&, I sure hope my green card application is approved so I can say my goodbyes...

PS To the ppl who say we get value from our money, open you eyes!

Thing is, I've seen several older, out-of-market models being negotiated in creative ways. Remember, the only 3gs model sold nowadays is the 8gb one.

However, you can see a bunch of 3gs of 16/32 gb around sold in different stances. One example is heineken giving one 32gb heineken-branded model in their club in spain (something like free if you buy 6000+ beer cans ). I've seen other examples throughout the world.

So this seems to me like old phones (meaning they were manufactured quite some time ago), and was on the shelves of someone and being marketed with heavy discount, perhaps from apple itself, perhaps the stores, who knows?

It's always terribly amusing when Americans comment on the "high" taxes in Scandinavian countries...

If only you really knew and understood our tax system [and your own].

Talking about the maximum tax rate is simply propaganda when most people pay about 32% *after* deductions for interest rates on mortgages, expenses for this and that etc.

And then there are the "free" services the state offers for that tax money; from state pensions, universal healthcare, the extensive welfare system (safety net) to free schools including University.

It's actually quite upbeat.

I haven't seen any other government in the world issue such a modern device for the entire staff.

Granted there is only 279 people in the Danish Parliament and ~ 1000 of people in the Folketing Administration, which only a part of were offered iPhones.

The administration will not reveal what they paid for them though, which I as a Dane find interesting.

The tax rates are high, yes, but we get a lot of benefits from those taxes. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the world.

And seriously, iPhones for the Parliament. Good on them :)

Well…I'm Danish, and for one thing the tax-thing isn't all that bad (we do get quite good value for our money) - actually I find the story more amusing considering that not so long ago Macs were a pain to use in comunication with _any_ official authority in DK (not to mention banks, national TV etc), it was quite hopeless really; nothing worked with a Mac…and now our parliament members all have iPhones!
The platform has come a long way in recent years.

You don't see many Danes wanting to swap places with people in the US. Except the ones that are dying for the iPhone 4, I guess.

the Danish people who are currently taxed at a progressive rate that maxes out at 51.9% (one of the highest rates in the world)
Let's see; according to the OECD figures for 2005 Denmark has a mean personal tax rate of about 42% against USA with 28%. Sounds bad eh? Except for that extra you get a decent health service and all that stuff. So add in health insurance etc for the US taxpayers. In the meantime Denmark appears to do very well in the 'livability' stakes. Perhaps the maximum marginal tax rate isn't actually terribly important?

I know it's not as visually impressive, but I bet they got both a contact and some kind of deal by buying that many phones at once. Since the 3GS is the old model, and sells for $100 here in the US on contract, I'd bet the cost per phone is significantly less in reality.

And, I also would wager these phones are replacing existing devices. But again, that makes it a lot less sensational.