Growing inequality: the Norway we love

Conservatives often accuse me of dreaming in the 1960s. Conservatives’ accusations against me are so many that it almost becomes difficult to keep track. But at one point I’ll give conservatives the right: I clearly dream there when a top leader in the state didn’t earn ten times more than those who did the practical work. I firmly believe that the society where the children of the manager and the children of the worker are in the same class is better than the society where the manager and the worker live in different realities.

I want to take care of the Norway we love so much, the Norway where there are small differences. Small differences between rich and poor and rural and urban. The success of the Norwegian national state has been precisely our unity and democracy. Our wish for a positive development for the whole of Norway.

If the differences increase, we all lose.

Zero taxpayers threaten democracy

We see that conservatives and liberals in government (FRP now a supporting party) has increasingly taken measures that widen differences and affect workers in Norway.

Fiscal policy is a good example. The Conservatives and the Liberal Party have followed a conscious policy to increase taxes for ordinary people. In fact, taxes rose to NOK 6.3 billion as a result of state budgets that the Conservatives and the Green Party put together in government.

Gasoline and diesel taxes increased more in one year with the Conservatives and the Liberal Party in office than the previous government during its eighth. The electricity tax has also risen to a record level. In addition, workers who commute or live in barracks have received an appropriate tax exemption.

Retires – withholds a million salary

Some of the meanest are government tax increases on benefits in kind. The government has ensured that auto mechanics who have their own car repaired in the shop where they work receive a tax increase and that the bus driver receives a higher tax when he works for the bus company he works for.

The last control of the government on the fiscal front is to want to eliminate the “widow’s pension.” The government wants to eliminate the current scheme with supplementary pensions for survivors, and replace it with a temporary benefit, something among others warns the Pensioners Association that will severely affect many women.

You don’t recognize my country

All these taxes and Government tax increases have one thing in common: They constantly affect workers with practical jobs and low or middle income.

The government, on the other hand, has given large tax breaks to the wealthiest. By combining tax cuts for the richest with higher taxes for ordinary people, the government has contributed to widening differences and an ever greater centralization of money in the richest parts of Norway.

Also conservatives and frps Consistent privatization policies help widen the gap. The number of directors increases and salaries increase more and more, while workers lose. An obvious example is the privatization of the Norwegian railways. The Center Party wants to secure the Norwegian railways in Norwegian hands. Conservatives and Greens don’t. They began by changing the name of NSB to “Vy”, before expelling our jointly owned Norwegian company from several railway lines, and they divested the same lines to British Go-ahead and Swedish SJ.

Shop steward races: – A slap in the face

Norwegian rail sales it’s not just a break with generations of proud Norwegian rail history. It also has consequences for those who have had their working lives along the railroad. Cleaners, machinists, drivers and mechanics alike will experience cuts and reductions in their pension entitlements, in part because many lose their special old-age pension as a result of privatization.

However, not everyone in the rail sector is losing out on privatization. The directors have a good morning. After just three years with the Conservatives and the FRP rail reform, the number of directors has doubled. And the director’s salary has tripled!

We also see in the bus industry that the differences increase. For example, the salary of the CEO of Vy buss is now about ten times higher than the starting salary of a bus driver. In recent years, the annual salary supplement for senior managers has been roughly the same as the total annual salary for a new driver. The Center Party has repeatedly challenged the government to take control of this development, and we will continue to press for it.

Non-social tax increases, cuts Pension rights and large-scale privatization are all measures that widen the gap and lead Norway in the wrong direction.

Increasing differences can lead over time to more conflict in a society and challenge the community that we have built over a long period of time. Rather let’s reverse the trend. Let’s cut taxes for the majority and raise taxes a little for the richest. Let’s work to increase the wages and pensions of hardworking workers.

Let us strengthen unity and take care of the Norway in which we are so happy.