Taxing the wealthy – klassklyftorna increases

"Taxing the wealthy – klassklyftorna increases,"

"Debater: Sweden risks becoming a Downton Abbey society"

"This is an opinion piece. It is the writer who stands for the views that are put forward in the text, not Against."

"the DEBATE. Inkomstojämlikheten is increasing in Sweden. The main reason is the increase in capital income which mainly benefit the already rich. The development also goes against a higher inequality in wealth − while Sweden still has a relatively low income inequality has förmögenheterna for the very richest increased as much as in the united states . The growing differences in the incomes and fortunes should be tackled. Risk is an ever more fragmented society, with oligarchic tendencies."

"IN the united states is rising inequality due to wages between high-and low-income increases. Such a development is not in Sweden, inequality in labor income has not increased, and research shows that the unions ' strong position is an important reason. We have thus a situation where the highly skilled, draws from the low-skilled, but the increasing inkomstojämlikheten in Sweden is driven by other factors."

"in Addition to increased incomes, depend on the real estate fee. Real estate fee is regressive, which means that those on low incomes pay a larger percentage of their income in property tax than high income earners. While the trend is toward higher fastighetskatter, Sweden is the country in OECD which has lowered the the tax the most."

"For förmögenhetojämlikheten get the inheritance is of greater importance – the annual legacy in Sweden is greater than all the capital income. "

"A problem with the inherited, unlike egenförvärvade, fortunes are that they reduce the incentives to work. The French economist Piketty argues that we risk, once again, have a society in which a minority lives on the return on inherited wealth and the rest are working. "

"A historically vivid description of such a society is the TV series Downton Abbey. With the lowest taxes on wealth and inheritance in Europe, is at risk of Sweden to create a modern version of the earlier turn of the century society."

"the Inequality has been associated with the outcome of the elections: in countries where income inequalities have increased the most, the united kingdom and the united states, the electorate voted Brexit and the Trump. Two prominent economists in the united states, Saez and Zucman, also highlights that a growing förmögenhetskoncentration is a threat to democracy. When the richest can buy political influence, need democracy to be protected against the oligarchy. Even if Bill Gates (one of three men who together have more wealth than the bottom förmögenhetshalvan of the Us population) is a recognized philanthropist, there are other billionaires in the united states with darker motives. If any of Sweden's 191 billionaires, half of whom are heirs, would like to influence policy, they would undoubtedly be able to guide american opinion. "

"Saez and Zucmans solution is to tax the highest förmögenheterna so that they will not continue to grow. They proposes that the fortunes of over half a billion dollars should be taxed at a 2 percent förmögenhetskatt. This is not a new policy: during the 50th century, the united states prevented it förmögenheterna to grow with a 91% marginal tax on income. Recently the democratic presidential E. Warren proposed a tax on toppförmögenheter. "

"Entrepreneurs are important for growth must of course be replaced with good income. The problems arise when förmögenheterna becomes a threat to democracy and when they are perceived as unjust. "

"For the capital income that arises due to luck and circumstances rather than effort, and speak in terms of excess return. "

"For wealth you should also talk in terms of överförmögenhet: fortunes that are unreasonably high and that definitely, if they are used in such purpose, can influence the political process. In Sweden, where the political parties do not need to report donations, this is an obvious problem."

"tax Evasion was an important reason to remove the inheritance and wealth taxes. But the development goes towards more international cooperation and better monitoring of international capital mobility. Tax evasion as an argument against taxes, and therefore have less bearing in the day and those who believe that Sweden, with its very low taxes on capital and wealth, is a tax haven, have been partly right."

"Thus, kapitalskatterna should be increased and consideration should be given to introduce wealth or inheritance. That the real estate fee should be progressive is a given."

"nMartin Nordin, associate Professor in economics at the University of Lund"