[ad_1]
Swedish workers have been at the forefront of the pandemic. While the middle class has been able to work from home, members of LO’s unions have made sure that society works. They have given the elderly the care they need, stocked shops with food and made taxis roll, often with health and, at worst, with life, as an effort. At this point, we should be able to agree on one thing: Swedish workers deserve more and better.
This is an opinion piece on Smålandsposten. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
In LO’s Makteliten annual report, it appears that CEOs of large Swedish companies in 2019 had an average income equal to 67 times what an auxiliary nurse earns in the Kronoberg region. Gaps in society are unreasonable.
The differences have greatly increased over time. In 1980, the CEOs of 50 of the largest Swedish companies had an average income equivalent to the salary of 9 industrial workers. In this year’s survey, which refers to 2019 earnings, the corresponding figure was the salary of 60 industrial workers. Statistics Sweden also notes that differences in society have increased in recent decades. The share of total income that accrues to the highest percentage has more than doubled since the early 1990s. At the same time, new Statistics Sweden statistics for 2019 show that the share of relatively poor people in the population per the first time in modern times exceeds 15%.
The corona pandemic has hit ordinary people hard as well. Rising unemployment has hit workers in close-contact industries hard. At the same time, groups in society that own shares and real estate have seen the value of their assets rise. The Stockholm Stock Exchange rose more than 13 percent last year. House prices in Stockholm increased by almost 17 percent.
The trend must be reversed. Equality is a precondition for all people, not just a few, to have full rights.
The tax reform that, according to the January agreement, will be implemented before the end of the term, should benefit ordinary people, rather than those who are better off. The gaps must be leveled. It therefore proposes:
• A fair tax on higher earned income. In short, a new permanent protection tax, on really high incomes.
• A uniform capital income tax of 35 percent. Special rules and exceptions benefit the elite. The development of income from capital is the main explanation for the increase in income disparities in Sweden in recent decades.
It is time to close the gap between the elite and the common people. Only then will Sweden be able to once again become the most egalitarian country in the world.
Thomas Olsson, President of the LO districts of Småland and Blekinge
Susanna Gideonsson, President of LO
The trend must be reversed. Equality is a precondition for all people, not just a few, to have full rights.
