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PROMISING: Prime Minister and Conservative leader Erna Solberg believes Labor leader Jonas Gahr Støre is using “increasingly important words” in his Tories wealth tax slaughter. Photo: Terje Bringedal
A shaken Labor leader, Jonas Gahr Støre, called the new wealth tax cuts for the wealthiest a “Norwegian tax scandal,” but Conservative leader Erna Solberg says the Labor Party itself has helped reduce both the tax on income. estate as other taxes.
When VG met with the prime minister for a budget interview at the Storting restaurant, hours after the state budget was presented on Wednesday afternoon, Erna Solberg simply snorted at harsh criticism from her main political competitor.
Here’s how Solberg’s tax cuts are spread across the state budget: Most to top earners
– Støre says this state budget is an “unorthodox fiscal scandal”. What do you say to that?
– Labor seems to be using bigger and bigger words. This is a factual disagreement debate on what is most important to Norwegian companies in the future. It is not unorthodox. The Labor Party itself has proposed a discount on wealth tax on working capital. Labor was 20 percent involved in the last tax reform. In the 1990s they had a lower valuation of these types of assets. It is not particularly unorthodox to grant a discount on working capital. We had that when Sigbjørn Johnsen of the Labor Party was Minister of Finance for the first time, and we have also had it before with the support of the Labor Party. So I would say there is enough inflation in words.
DISAGREE: Jonas Gahr Støre listens as Erna Solberg is interviewed in the hallway today. Photo: Terje Bringedal
Newspaper headlines
– Støre should know everything you say now. What do you think is the reason why he says what he says?
– We are on the way to the electoral campaign. Words get bigger and bigger, to make headlines in newspapers.
Støre and Tajikistan will attack the reduction of the wealth tax: – Scandal
– Has Jonas Gahr Støre chosen wealth tax as a marker for the election campaign?
– Probably did. It is important to remember that the Labor Party sometimes says that the government has obtained a tax break of NOK 27 billion. That’s correct, but the Labor Party has been a part of those tax cuts. They have participated in the reduction of corporation tax. They have said that they will not reintroduce inheritance tax. We have also made tax increases, for example in asset valuation, which has made our tax system healthier, says Solberg.
READ: This makes budget changes with your finances
– When we joined the government in 2013, it happened that if you invested NOK 6,000 in secondary homes instead of actively owning them, such as stocks, you saved NOK 2,000 by investing the money in secondary homes. These are changes we have made to improve our tax system. The objective has been to increase the activity of the Norwegian economy.
Radioactive wealth tax
– What is the reason why the wealth tax, both for the Conservatives and for the Labor Party, is almost politically radioactive?
– It’s not radioactive to us. For us it is a tool to create more companies, more Norwegian ownership, ensuring that we can develop the district of Norway. Because Labor is a marker of economic differences. We have a different vision of what is most important, ensuring that people are qualified for the job market and that there are enough jobs. That’s what we spend a lot of money on, not tax breaks.
Report: wealth tax increase creates more jobs
Fighting a lot
– Is this wealth tax cut temporary, due to the crown?
– No, for us it is a long-term objective to eliminate the wealth tax on working capital. But the reason we do what we do right now is because we are in a situation where Norwegian companies, not least district companies, are struggling a lot. Then they have to avoid making withdrawals from the business to pay property tax, when the money is needed in the business.
– Why was it so important for the Conservatives to increase the tax rebate from 35 to 45 percent?
– Because Norwegian companies are currently struggling a lot. It is a difficult period.
Støre: 25,000 become zero taxpayers when Conservatives eliminate estate tax
– If the wealth tax is so unilaterally negative, why not eliminate the entire tax without reservation?
– The priority of the conservatives are the changes that refer to measures close to the companies and that are the taxation of the capital of the companies. Then we have done some things on the common people’s wealth tax as well, like increasing the entry point.
– You said, and even wrote in a book, that it is completely irrelevant to eliminate the wealth tax if it leads us to get rich with zero taxpayers. Consider cutting even more so that people only pay a few crowns in taxes, but not zero?
– We do such an assessment every year, and it is still the case that homeowners must also pay wealth tax in 2021. But they pay a little less for property they own in businesses.
The entire Conservative leadership voted against the total elimination of the wealth tax
– Although this government has cut the wealth tax rate several times, the total wealth tax paid to the Treasury has not decreased, on the contrary?
Tajikistan on the shock report on inequality: – This is creepy
– Yes, and that is because, fortunately, things have gone better in the Norwegian economy. The wealth tax has roughly the same volume as before because of this. We have also done something with valuation in some areas and are criticized for that. From those who invested their money in real estate instead of creating corporate jobs, because it paid off under the red-green tax system.
