The entire conservative leadership voted against the total elimination of the wealth tax – VG

– I presume the Conservatives abide by what is now the National Assembly’s decision and ambition to eliminate the entire estate tax, says the proponent, the county leader at Vestland Conservatives. Tom Georg Indrevik, to VG.

But despite the decision: Faced with VG, the conservative vice president and finance minister Jan Tore Sanner argues that “it is not relevant to eliminate all the wealth tax until a solution is in place to avoid zero taxpayers.”

Mini national meeting

The Conservatives’ national gathering a week ago was a six-hour national mini-gathering, postponed since before the summer, with minimal time for political debate due to the crown’s measures.

The meeting was chaired by a hotel in Gardermoen. There was the party leadership, Unge Høyre, plus the Innlandet county delegates. The other delegates sat together in their home counties.

In the motion for a resolution that was tabled, the text was that Conservatives should ‘reduce Norwegian property taxes, among other things, by eliminating wealth tax on working capital. ‘

Støre: 25,000 Norwegians become zero taxpayers with the Conservatives’ recent decision to remove all wealth tax

Clear majority

Then there was a counterproposal from Vestland Høyre to remove all wealth tax, and not just that collected from working capital.

The Resolution Committee of the National Assembly would reject this. But Tom Georg Indrevik and Vestland, Erna Solberg’s own county team, wanted to vote for the party.

The Western Norwegian proposal was adopted by a large majority. The minutes of the national meeting do not show the number of votes. But Indrevik estimates that 196 of the 340 delegates voted in favor of the proposal. The Conservatives’ communications department informs VG that their estimate was that about 185 of the 330 delegates who voted in favor of the amendment.

This was the decision: Conservatives want to reduce Norwegian property taxes, among other things by eliminating wealth tax. ‘

The Labor leadership has reacted strongly to this hardening of the party’s program.
Jonas Gahr Støre told his national government this week that “Conservatives are obsessed with the estate tax.”

Solberg: keep phasing out

Conservative leader and Prime Minister Erna Solberg is in northern Norway on Friday, along with half the government, to obtain information on the crown crisis.

In an SMS to VG, he confirms that the party leadership voted unanimously in favor of the resolution committee’s proposal and, therefore, against as a decision of the National Assembly:

“It is not a new policy that conservatives want to eliminate the wealth tax, but we will have a gradual reduction in which we prioritize the elimination of the wealth tax on working capital,” writes Erna Solberg.

True: not applicable

Jan Tore Sanner justifies his vote as follows:

“The important thing now is to reduce the tax on working capital. It is important to secure jobs in Norway both during the crisis and in the future. It is not relevant to eliminate all the wealth tax before having a solution to avoid zero taxpayers.” , writes Sanner in an SMS to VG.

Bent Høie, who resigned as vice president at the national meeting last Friday, responds as follows:

“I think the most important thing is to reduce the tax on working capital, because that is what prevents people from creating and securing jobs in Norway.”

Suggest changes

In 2017, Conservatives went to the polls to phase out and eliminate the long-term estate tax.

The party’s programming committee’s proposal for the 2021 elections was published a few days before the national assembly.

Here, the program committee has removed the wording to “remove” the estate tax entirely in the long run. Therefore, the Conservatives are likely to reject their old policy and no longer eliminate the part of the estate tax that does not refer to the so-called “working capital”.

The majority resolution of the National Assembly now sharpens conservatives’ opposition to the estate tax considerably from before. “Long-term eliminated” is no longer the policy line of conservatives in the fight against the wealth tax.

Give clear signals

– The right must make clear decisions and give clear signals to the voters. Eliminating the wealth tax on working capital is a step in the right direction. But our ambition is clearly to eliminate it entirely, says county leader Indrevik.

Indrevik is the daily rapporteur in the Øygarden municipality west of Bergen. He says the reasons for the proposal to remove all estate taxes can be found in the home municipality’s business community, including locally owned oil service companies:

– This is a Norwegian property tax, which foreign owners avoid, he argues.

– How quickly should Erna Solberg and the leadership of the Conservative Party comply with the decision of the national assembly?

– We will see what comes in the state budget in October. I respect that the government should make its deliberations, and why there can be a majority in the Storting. But then it is important to include the elimination of the estate tax in the party program that we will go to the polls next year, says Tom Georg Indrevik.

In 2017, conservatives went to the polls with this wording:

“Conservatives want to gradually reduce and eliminate the wealth tax on working capital to strengthen Norwegian ownership of Norwegian jobs, as well as increase the lower deduction and, in the long run, eliminate the wealth tax.”

The proposed new party program to be adopted at the next Conservative Party national meeting in spring 2021 now states the following:

“The Conservatives want to reduce Norwegian property taxes, among other things, by eliminating the estate tax on working capital.”