Opposing Conservative Capital

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That was in august Last year the then Minister of Commerce and Industry Torbjørn Røe Isaksen (H) ordered a report on the wealth tax and its consequences.

Isaksen’s party has turned every stone in the search for arguments against the tax.

They have found little more than annoying facts.

The report came in on Monday of last week. Just two days before the government presented the state budget, where they again cut the wealth tax significantly.

The conclusion? The wealth tax helps increase employment!

Not exactly as ordered, you might guess.

The report is discussed by professionals, and some have objections to its validity and method.

However, one thing is for sure: this time too, the right wing has not found the research they dream of.

In fact, almost all the research we have shows that the wealth tax is primarily positive for both employment and redistribution.

However, conservatives continue to criticize, with ideological convictions, anecdotes and emotional appeals as weapons.

How can a self-proclaimed party of knowledge be so deaf to the facts?

For all who fight For tax relief, there is a mantra that applies: taxes hinder value creation and destroy Norwegian companies.

Make no mistake: the wealth tax is not a tax on companies, it is a tax on people and their eventual wealth.

But if you own a business, you also own everything the business consists of. Cars and equipment, photocopier and savings. This is counted as the owner’s fortune.

If the company wins wrong with the money a year, the value in the business will probably be the same anyway – the store premises won’t be worth less just because you sell few products.

In such cases, it is feared that the owner will have to empty the last remnants of the coffers to pay the estate tax. The company goes bankrupt, the employees are laid off, and the estate tax has ruined everything.

To put it bluntly.

Is this story that fits best with the Conservative Party’s vision of eliminating the estate tax.

There is only one problem: it is not true.

Study after study comes with clear indications that these small and medium-sized businesses are doing well, also with the wealth tax.

Of course, it is boring to come across facts that contradict one’s ideological convictions, but conservatives have really taken a remarkable turn in the face of opposition.

Some situations have bordered on the comic.

Da Erna Solberg (H) In 2013, faced with a master’s thesis showing that wealth tax did not harm Norwegian companies, he ended an interview with the words “I don’t listen to what you say”, before removing his earplugs.

Researchers at Statistics Norway found in 2017 that the ten percent of Norwegians who earn the least pay almost as much estate tax as the ten percent who earn the most. Conservative Henrik Asheim was quick to point out that a reduction in the estate tax meant more “for those with the least.”

He received a response from a tax investigator who “put coffee down his throat” noting that among those with the lowest incomes, we often find the richest in the country, such as Kjell Inge Røkke, sisters Katharina and Alexandra Andresen, Petter Stordalen and Øystein Stray Spetalen.

They are hardly “the least,” but Asheim is right that the Conservatives gave them tax breaks.

It is not alone the constant refusal to assume facts that are disappointing with the fiscal narrative of the ruling party conservatives.

When they paint their national romantic picture of the self-employed struggle against the death of the estate tax, they know full well that this is only a fraction of the truth.

It is capital related to the business, the so-called working capital, which in turn has received tax breaks from the government. When we take a closer look at Norway’s total ‘labor wealth’, it turns out to be 90 percent of stocks and only 10 percent of real fixed assets.

A significant part of these stocks are in fact small corporations and probably. The fact is that we do not know how many, because the Ministry of Finance has not investigated this.

When the government last week gave an advance Christmas gift to all working capital owners, neither we nor they know who really benefits from it.

We do not know how many are ordinary and wealthy Norwegians with money in stocks and funds.

The shares don’t even have to be Norwegian.

Actually i can inherit 100 million tax-free and put the entire pot into a global index fund. Then the money is scattered across hundreds of international companies and is suddenly called working capital.

Therefore, the government has decided that only 55 percent of them should be counted as wealth, and vips, the wealth is halved on the tax return.

In this half, I pay 0.85 øre in wealth tax for. crowns, at the same time that I get a return of 5 to 10 percent on the royal fortune of one hundred million crowns.

Therefore, I pay a wealth tax of less than half a million, while making five to ten million a year, without lifting a finger.

And that’s what conservatives call contributing to Norwegian value creation.

It is obviously one Frankly, to think that the tax level is too high.

There are also many factual and relevant arguments against the estate tax, and it is true that some small business owners must take dividends to cover it.

We are happy to problematize this and seek solutions.

What is the funky story of the conservatives is that as long as you call something working capital, it is money that works and sweats to get the country circulating.

In reality, almost anything can be converted to working capital, as long as it is owned by a corporation. This can be easily created.

The car, rental apartment, and pool can easily be covered by the tax credit, without working for anyone other than its owner.

When conservatives bring relief In working capital, it gives more cash in the coffers to small business owners.

But at the same time, they provide relief to people with ordinary wealth and resources to plan and invest money wisely.

Okay, but conservatives can’t just tell half the story.