Alcohol is taxed at a very high rate in Norway for health reasons, similar to the tobacco tax rates in the UK.
Everything else though is much more expensive too, and VAT is only part of the story (compare to UK with VAT at 20%.) Much of the additional price in Norway is down to higher local labour costs, though for food protectionism for farmers also plays a part.
As a software engineer I earned a much lower multiple of the wages of a supermarket employee in Norway than when working in Britain, the US or Germany. As a result there are fewer people working in supermarkets, cleaners use more machinery, some services like dry cleaning are rare outside Oslo as they're uneconomic for most people.
The result of all this is that people seem to feel more secure. The power of employers and employees is more balanced. There is an expectation that there should be time for family life (most professionals work 8-4.)
Most developed countries have reached the point where they don't lack resources, they just fail to share them around equitably.
Everything else though is much more expensive too, and VAT is only part of the story (compare to UK with VAT at 20%.) Much of the additional price in Norway is down to higher local labour costs, though for food protectionism for farmers also plays a part.
As a software engineer I earned a much lower multiple of the wages of a supermarket employee in Norway than when working in Britain, the US or Germany. As a result there are fewer people working in supermarkets, cleaners use more machinery, some services like dry cleaning are rare outside Oslo as they're uneconomic for most people.
The result of all this is that people seem to feel more secure. The power of employers and employees is more balanced. There is an expectation that there should be time for family life (most professionals work 8-4.)
Most developed countries have reached the point where they don't lack resources, they just fail to share them around equitably.