It's only free to the people in Norway that don't work.  But that is the rub.  And as of the last 10 years or so, many Norwegians (Finns, Swedes, Danes. Icelanders, etc.) are not happy with paying high taxes.  And that is because of the 10's of thousands of Mid-East refugees that have moved to these Nordic countries, pay little to no taxes and still get the same benefits, services and safety net that the 40% tax payers fund.  There are lots of Scandinavians that are very unhappy about this situation.