2013-12-29 23:58:10
Published On Thu Oct 22 2009
OSLO It's the moment nosy neighbours have been waiting for the release of
official records showing the annual income and overall wealth of nearly every
Norwegian taxpayer.
In a move that would be unthinkable in most countries, tax authorities in
left-leaning Norway have issued the "skatteliste," or "tax list," for 2008 to
domestic media under a law designed to safeguard the country's tradition of
transparency.
The annual list includes data about fishermen on the western fjords, Sami
reindeer herders in the north, city folk in Oslo and even members of the
committee that awarded President Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize.
To non-Scandinavians, it appears to be a gross violation of privacy. At home,
it has stirred up a media frenzy, with splashy headlines revealing who is
oil-rich Norway's wealthiest man, woman and celebrity couple.
The data shows that former cross-country skiing great Bjoern Daehlie still has
plenty of cash 29.3 million kroner ($5.4 million) to be exact. The finances
of other famous Norwegians, including actress and director Liv Ullmann, former
marathon champion Grete Waitz or writer Jostein Gaarder, are also unveiled.
Defenders of the system say it enhances transparency, which is essential for an
open democracy.
"Isn't this how a social democracy ought to work, with openness, transparency
and social equality as ideals?" wrote Jan Omdahl, a columnist for the tabloid
Dagbladet. He acknowledged, however, that many treat the list like "tax porno"
furtively checking neighbours' or co-workers' incomes.
Critics say the list poses a threat to the very society whose freedom it's
meant to protect.
"What each Norwegian earns and what you have in wealth is a private matter
between the taxpayer and the government," said Jon Stordrange, director of the
Norwegian Taxpayer's Association.
Besides providing criminals with a useful tool to find prime targets, he
claimed the list generates my-dad-is-richer-than-yours taunts in the
playground.
"The children of people with low wages are being teased about it in the
schools," Stordrange said Thursday. "People with low salaries are being met
with comments at the grocery store, 'How can you live on these low wages?"'
Many media outlets use the tax records to produce their own searchable online
databases. In national broadcaster NRK's database, you can type a name, hit
search and within moments get information on exactly what that person made last
year, paid in taxes and his or her total wealth.
It also gives an overview of how those figures compare with Norway's national
averages for men and women, and averages for that person's city of residence.
The information had been available to media until 2004, when a right-wing
government banned the publication of tax records. Three years later, a new,
left-leaning government reversed its predecessor's legislation and also made it
possible for media to obtain tax information digitally and disseminate it
online.
Norway's 2007 law emphasized that "first and foremost, it's the press that can
contribute to a critical debate" on wealth and the elaborate tax scheme that,
along with the country's vast oil wealth, keeps Norway's extensive and
expensive welfare system afloat.
The country of 4.8 million people had the third highest income tax among
industrialized countries in 2007, according to the latest OECD statistics,
behind Denmark and New Zealand.
Since the latest tax data was released Wednesday, national media have scrambled
to analyze it, building top-10 lists and graphic breakdowns of income
differentials between sexes, age groups, cities and towns.
So who's Norway's richest man? Tobacco mogul Johan Henrik Andresen, worth 11.1
billion kroner ($2 billion), has surpassed last year's No. 1, industrialist
Kjell Inge Roekke, according to Dagbladet.
Norway's richest woman was stock market investor Tone Bjoerseth-Andersen, whose
wealth of 594 million kroner ($107 million) placed her behind 24 men, the paper
said.
Members of the royal family are not on the list because they don't pay taxes.
Others excluded from the list include people whose details are kept secret for
security reasons and the homeless.
NRK's online edition compared the income of Norwegian celebrity couples
called "super-duels" while newspaper Aftenposten's Web site ranked common
Norwegian first names by wealth under the headline "How rich is your name?"
It found men named Terje tend to do very well, while among women, Marit is a
sure winner.
Most other European countries, including Britain, Italy and the Netherlands,
have very different attitudes toward transparency and privacy and would be
horrified at such a scheme. Last week the Spanish government for the first time
released information on how much each member of the Cabinet is worth assets
and debts but data on private citizens is still private.
In Norway's neighbour Sweden, however, anyone can order a printed edition of
the Taxation Calendar, which lists the earnings of people in mid-to-high-end
income brackets. The information is also available online, but anonymous checks
were barred in 2007 after a public outcry. Swedes whose finances have been
viewed online are now notified by mail about who checked their details.
Christine Ingebritsen, a professor at the University of Washington who studies
Scandinavian economics, said the Norwegian tax list exemplifies a time-tested,
distinctly Scandinavian custom of egalitarianism.
"This is how you make sure that you're being legitimate in the eyes of the
community you show that the wealth of a CEO isn't off the charts," she said.
Unlike the U.S., Norway "places the wealth and health of all as a priority
above the individual success stories."
Still, even in egalitarian Norway the tax list has plenty of opponents. A 2007
survey by research group Synovate revealed that only 32 per cent of the
Norwegian public wanted the tax list published, while 46 per cent were against
it.
Georg Apnes, the director of Norway's Data Inspectorate and a member of the
Conservative Party, called the tradition of publishing and combing through the
tax list "repulsive" and "disgusting" on an NRK morning news program.
"It reflects very poorly on our culture and on our society," he commented.