For much of the 20th century, Sweden enjoyed a reputation as one of the most egalitarian countries in Europe. Over the past two decades, however, it has transformed into journalists and writers Andreas Cervenka Known as the “Paradise for the Super Rich”.
Today, Sweden has one of the highest fertility rates in the world dollar billionaireand there are many “Unicorn” startups Valued at least $1bn (£742m) and includes payments platform Klarna and audio streaming service Spotify.
Abolish wealth tax (wealth tax) was part of this story 20 years ago – the same year that introduced Generous tax breaks For use around housework and home improvement projects. Two decades on, the number of Swedish households employing cleaners is one of the signs that Sweden is increasingly becoming a two-tiered country.
as part of me Anthropological research Enter Social relations arising from different tax systemsI used to working with pensioners Find out how they feel about falling tax levels in their later years in the southern suburbs of the Swedish capital, Stockholm.
This trend has been accompanied by the gradual shrinking of the welfare state. Many of my interviewees lamented that Sweden no longer has a collective project to build a more cohesive society.
“We pensioners can see what we built and what we started as kids being destroyed,” Shelstein, 74, explained. “I was born after the war and spent my life building this society with my fellow citizens. (But) with taxes lowered and Social Security eliminated … we are not building anything together now.”
Sweden’s Gini coefficient is the most commonly used measure of inequality, In recent years it has reached 0.3 (0 represents complete equality, 1 represents complete inequality), which is higher than about 0.2 in the 1980s. The ratio for the EU as a whole is 0.29. “There are now 42 billionaires in Sweden – that’s a lot more,” Bengt, 70, told me. “Where did they come from? This was not a country where people could easily become so wealthy.”
But like other pensioners I met, Bent acknowledged the role his peers played in the shift. “My generation remembers how we built Sweden as a welfare state, but a lot has changed now. The problem is, we didn’t protest about it. We didn’t realize that we were becoming this country of rich people.”
the opposite of the american dream
Wealth tax is Introduced from Sweden In 1911, the amount payable was initially based on a combination of wealth and income. Around the same time, Sweden took some of the first steps towards a welfare state, notably the introduction of a state pension in 1913.
The term used to describe this, people (“People’s House”), meaning equal comfort and security for all. This is arguably the ideological antithesis of the American Dream—its goal is not exceptionalism but a reasonable standard of living and universal services.
After World War II, property taxes (now separated from income) were again stepped up, with marginal tax rates on the wealthy reaching a historic high of 4% in the 1980s, although the actual tax burden is less clear due to complex exemption rules. But the total revenue generated by the tax remains relatively low. As part of Sweden’s annual GDP, never exceeded 0.4% in the post-war period.
By the late 1980s, the political winds in Sweden began to change, coinciding with the shift in several European countries (including Britain and the United States under Margaret Thatcher) toward the privatization of public services and the deregulation of financial markets.
A recurring criticism of the Swedish wealth tax is that it is regressive, taxing middle-class wealth (primarily housing and financial assets) while exempting the wealthiest people who own large companies or hold top positions in listed companies from taxes. Another criticism is that wealth taxes lead to tax avoidance, particularly in the form of capital flight to offshore tax havens.
While a wealth tax seemed to signal their country’s commitment to socioeconomic equality, my interviewees said they hadn’t really thought about it until Abolished in 2006 Sweden’s then-right-wing government proposed the policy after the previous Social Democratic government abolished inheritance tax a year ago.
“When the wealth tax was repealed,” Marianne, 77, told me, “I wasn’t thinking about handing out doles to millionaires because … we didn’t have a lot of wealthy aristocrats who owned everything. Repealing the wealth tax and inheritance tax seemed like a practical thing, not so political.”
Marianne and other pensioners I spoke to told a story of a joint effort to build a welfare state, rather than a Robin Hood project of taking money from the rich and giving it to the poor. The notion that the Swedish welfare state was founded by equals, initially primarily rural and poor, arguably distracts these pensioners from the problems of wealth accumulation.
Although Sweden still Taxation of property and all forms of capital incomeWith the benefit of hindsight, many of my older interviewees now see the repeal of the wealth tax “on their watch” as a crucial step in reshaping Swedish society away from a social democratic welfare state and towards something new – billionaires and increasing social disintegration.
“I think about my children, my two daughters, who are working and have young families,” Jan, 72, told me. “As children they were supported by the welfare state, they went to good schools, had the opportunity to attend football and drama classes and have access to the dentist – but now I fear society will get worse for them.”
Like others I spoke to, Jane expressed regret for her role in the change. “I now think it was partly my fault,” he said. “We became lazy and complacent, thought the Swedish welfare state was safe, didn’t worry about abolishing the wealth tax, didn’t think it would change anything… but I think it has changed.”
“A more humane society”
My research shows that the impact of a wealth tax, or no wealth tax, is not just about fiscal revenue flows and wealth redistribution. They have wider social implications and can form the basis of people’s visions of society.
There are currently only three European countries collection Overall wealth tax: Norway, Spain and Switzerland. also, France, Italy, Belgium and Netherlands impose wealth tax Depends on selected assets, not a person’s overall wealth.
The question today, at least in Sweden, is not just whether wealth taxes are effective, but what kind of society they project – one of public housingor a paradise for the rich.
“When I grew up in the 1950s, taxes were a natural thing,” Sheltin recalled. “I remember in second grade thinking, I’m always going to be taken care of, I’ll never have to worry.”
Reflecting on the different feelings of life in Sweden today, she said: “Now people don’t want to pay taxes – sometimes even I don’t want to pay taxes. Everyone is thinking about what they can get back and how to get rich, rather than building something together.”
“I don’t think you can say, ‘I pay so much in taxes, therefore I should get the same in return.'” Instead, you should pay attention to the fact that you live in a more humane society where everyone knows they will be taken care of since the second grade. “
The names of study participants have been changed.
Miranda Sheard Johnsonsenior researcher in social anthropology, University College London
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