Read again. Or read elsewhere. There’s enough left to buy a Volvo, an ABBA CD, and a pack of Smorrebrod. No, the rest is not free.
Scratch Canberra from the list unless you’re sure you can obtain very well-paid employment. It’s not a cheap city to live in.
Brisbane and Adelaide are both relatively cheap compared to Sydney though.
Swedish taxes are not 95%, just to clarify.
Scandinavian taxes are generally pretty high, around 40% to 50%, but in turn there are lots of benefits, most of which I have no direct knowledge nor do I care to wade the wepths of the system to find out.
However, if you start making a lot of money the tax % goes up, I’m not sure how far but I know even merry ol’ England used to let it soar to right around the 90% mark (causing some famous artists to transfer their citizenships elsewhere in exchange for tax relief).
Hope that helps.
— G. Raven
the wepths of the system?
preview, preview, PREVIEW 
There was a time when a small number of Swedish residents could in effect be taxed over 100% of their income. The children’s author Astrid Lindgren (of the Pippi Longstocking books among dozens of others) was one of the more well-known 100+% tax payers. The reason for this strange situation was that there was a high tax on personal wealth (i.e. assets) as well as an income tax. Please note that this was years ago. But I suspect that’s the origin of all the outrageous claims about Swedish tax rates.
::hijack::
Auckland’s unbelievably unlivably expensive, it’s very close to Sydney for cost of living.
Brisbane’s remarkably cheap, esp if you are willing to live in the outer suburbs. $80 000 to $90 000 will buy you a boring basic livable house where I live. Beats paying Sydney rents.
Health care in Quebec is ‘free’… although British Columbia makes you pay about $1/day up front (which came as bit of a shock when I moved). But that fee is lowered if you earn less than $19k or so.
In Vancouver needle exchanges are free… if you can find one (but that should be expanded soon).
There are a few free ferries around Vancouver (because there’s no bridge).
Lotsa places have free water-- I’ve never lived anywhere with a meter reader… but that comes down to the individual municipality.
Free compost. Free votes. Free Jazz concerts.
Libraries are free (for your municipality… if you want to go to another city they’ll charge you).
Handicapped get free rides (bus). Veterans also get free home nursing care, if the situation warrants. Free home cleaning too.
College in Quebec used to be free… or pretty damn close. I think my sister pays $50 per course now… Plus all the usual ridiculous school fees. Of course, those $100 books are another question entirely.
Health services are not free in Ireland, unless you’re below a certain income level. The rest of us have to pay for visits to the doctor, for prescriptions and for hospital services (though there is a £200 annual maximum for the latter).
Taxes really aren’t that high here either - relatively speaking.
Well, here in Kalamazoo, Michigan, we get, um, argh. Well you can use…hell, not that. Uh, well if you…hang out in the public parks, you probably won’t be arrested for vagrancy if you don’t stick around more than an hour so… :rolleyes: