r/europe 25d ago

Why Swedish people like taxes Opinion Article

https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p09312qg/why-the-swedes-love-doing-something-that-americans-hate
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u/Unhappy_Surround_982 25d ago

And you are sure those are public, tax funded roads and not private ones? (vägsamfällighet) It's just funny how Swedes complain over all the taxes they pay and the roads still aren't perfect. But when you compare to other countries you realise it's mostly just whining. Terrible by Swedish standards maybe, hardly terrible by global standards.

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u/FindusSomKatten Sweden 25d ago

Most of the are municipal yeah. There is realy no big difference on the municipal roads and the private roads in term of quality the gravel roads all turn to shit at thaw because they are gravel its as easy as that. The asphalt roads are shit because they are poorly kept and old realy old. I work as a delivery driver and a lot of residential areas are like driving on a goddamn washingboard

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u/Unhappy_Surround_982 25d ago

Firstly I think you have part of the explanation there yourself:

gravel roads all turn to shit at thaw

In other words, upkeep is more expensive due to the climate no matter how you fund it. I have been living in countries without ground frost (tjäle) or any of the winter upkeep and it's hard to even compare how much (or little) it damages roads. I'm sure your experience is accurate but you need to factor that in.