The land of ABBA and Ikea has high wealth inequality
appropriate for the country which produced the song “Money, Money, Money”, Sweden has one billionaire for every 250,000 people, one of the highest rates in the world. It is also one of the world’s most unequal countries in terms of the distribution of wealth. An estimate fromfinds that the value of Swedish billionaires’ fortunes is equivalent to a quarter of the country’s annual.
Yet among ordinary Swedes, billionaires are surprisingly popular. “Only the royal family, Astrid Lindgren, Abba and Bjorn Borg could compete in popularity,” wrote one newspaper in 2018 on the death of Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of Ikea. Talk of levying harsh taxes on the wealthy is met with a shrug. “The debate that you have in America or Britain about taxing the super-rich just doesn’t exist here,” says Janerik Larsson of Timbro, a free-market think-tank.
If surprisingly few Swedes hanker for punitive taxes on the rich, that is also because many have concluded that they do not work. Sweden introduced wealth taxation in 1911, followed by three big increases in 1934, 1948 and 1971. By the early 1980s Swedes with a household wealth of about $600,000 faced a marginal tax rate of 4%. Combined with heavy taxation of income, the effective tax rate on investment exceeded 100% in some cases.
Despite these punitive rates, wealth taxation only made a minor contribution to Sweden’s generous welfare state—at most during the post-war period, it raised 0.4% of. From the 1970s onwards its popularity waned. Kamprad fled to Switzerland in 1973; Hans Rausing, whose father founded Tetra Pak, a packaging firm , escaped to Britain in the 1980s.
The inclusion of various exemptions—including the exemption of holdings of land and forest from 1991—increased the complexity of the administration of the tax. With bipartisan support, Sweden abolished the inheritance tax in 2005 and the wealth tax in 2007. Before long, Kamprad returned."In the rich man’s world"
México Últimas Noticias, México Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
NATO marks its 70th anniversary in typically chaotic fashionEmmanuel Macron’s criticism of NATO seemed to have persuaded Donald Trump that the alliance was a good idea after all
Leer más »
Foxconn's Gou to discuss trade war, investment on U.S. tripTerry Gou, the billionaire founder of Apple supplier Foxconn, said on Tuesday he...
Leer más »
31 Colorful (And Surprisingly Stylish) Pieces Of Furniture From WalmartA pretty-in-pink headboard, a show-stopping set of bright red chairs, and a blue-tiful dining room cabinet for your viewing pleasure.
Leer más »
These photos show what it's really like in Iran, where — despite its antagonistic relationship with the US— life is surprisingly normalMedia coverage of Iran often highlight how 'different' it is. These photos show how everyday life in the Islamic Republic is surprisingly normal.
Leer más »