Swedish Opposition Leader To Stand On Platform Of Tax Cuts

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

11 April 2005

Swedish opposition leader Fredrik Reinfeldt will stand at the election in 2006 on a platform of tax cuts and privatisation in an attempt to reduce Sweden’s tax burden, which according to EU statistical body Eurostat, is officially the highest in Europe at more than 50% of GDP.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Reinfeldt, leader of the Moderate Party, revealed that his plans will include “taxation, companies, deregulation and privatisation” in the hope of boosting economic growth and job creation.

Under these plans, taxes will be reduced by an estimated SKR55 billion ($7.7 billion) in a programme designed to cut the government’s share of the economy to 48%. This will entail a reduction in income tax and the scrapping of the wealth tax, among other measures.

Reinfeldt stated that the tax cuts will be funded by scaling back the country’s extensive welfare state system, and through the selling of the government’s stake in a number of large firms, such as its 19% holding in Nordea Bank AB, the largest lender in Scandinavia, and its 45% holding in TeliaSonera AB, the region’s largest phone company.

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