Bernie Sanders’ and his ilk’s claims about how wonderful socialism works in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden are lies. These countries are not socialist and rely on capitalism for their standard of living

Here is a link to an informative article at the Heartland Institute.

The authors present some facts about Denmark, Norway, and Sweden that show that Bernie Sanders and his ilk are lying about them.

Here are some excerpts concerning Denmark.  The same is true of Norway and Sweden.
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Denmark

Although democratic socialists argue Denmark’s economy is a prime example of how socialism should work, Danes have rejected many of the policies American democratic socialists regularly call for. For example, in Denmark, there is no federal minimum wage, no basic income program, and no federal jobs guarantee.

Although prominent American democratic socialists point to Denmark as one of their models for confiscating and redistributing wealth, in many respects, Denmark protects private property more than governments in the United States.

The Danish economy has a minimal regulatory burden and wide-open markets, which makes it attractive to global investors.

Over the past three years, budget deficits for the Danish national government have averaged 3 percent12 in the United States. Even more impressive, Denmark’s total public debt is 34.1 percent of GDP, while the U.S. total public debt is equivalent to a whopping 107.8 percent of GDP.13 (See Figure 2.) Denmark’s national debt of $127 billion means each Danish citizen currently foots about $22,000 of the country’s debt. On the other hand, the U.S. national debt of $22 trillion means each American is on the hook for about $68,000 of America’s unpaid bills.

In Denmark, the overall tax burden is 45.9 percent of total domestic income. In the United States, the overall tax burden is 26 percent of total domestic income.

According to the Tax Foundation, “The top marginal tax rate of 60 percent in Denmark applies to all income over 1.2 times the average income in Denmark. From the American perspective, this means that all income over $60,000 (1.2 times the average income of about $50,000 in the United States) would be taxed at 60 percent.”

“Compare this to The United States,” the Tax Foundation noted. “The top marginal tax rate of 46.8 percent (state average and federal combined rates) kicks in at 8.5 times the average U.S. income (around $400,000). Comparatively, few taxpayers in the United States face the top marginal rate.”

Furthermore, income taxes are only one ingredient of the tax burden pie. All Danes pay a value-added tax of 25 percent on goods and services, as well as excise taxes and government fees.

As these figures show, all Danes pay high taxes, not just the wealthy . . . the Danish tax system is far less redistributionist than the American tax code.

Denmark’s corporate tax rate is just 22 percent,24 only slightly higher than the U.S. rate of 21 percent.