In Norway, everyone's tax info is just a click away
In Norway, everyone's tax info is just a click away
By Pierre-Henry DESHAYES February 7, 2017
Each year, Norway's tax agency publishes key information
on all taxpayers, including earnings, wealth, and tax payments, on its website
Oslo (AFP) - How much does my neighbour, my colleague,
the leader of my country or his wife earn? In Norway, a champion of
transparency, that information is available to all, just a few clicks away.
The fact that a billionaire could take over the White
House without providing his tax returns, or that a French presidential election
frontrunner could be rocked by revelations that he paid his family handsome
sums for suspected phoney work, are inconceivable scenarios in this
Scandinavian country.
"In Norway there's a culture of openness on these
issues, which makes it unlikely to get elected without being transparent about
your tax situation and earnings," the head of the Norwegian Tax
Administration, Hans Christian Holte, told AFP.
Each year, the tax agency publishes key information on
all taxpayers -- including earnings, wealth, and tax payments -- on its
website.
The thinking in this Protestant country is that there's
more incentive to chip in your "two cents" to the communal pot when
you see that everyone else is doing the same.
A media frenzy erupts every October, as newspapers
publish lists of the richest or best-paid celebrities, sports stars and
politicians. But Norwegians can also see how much their bosses, or their
colleagues in the office, are earning.
The practice dates back to the 19th century, when
citizens could go to city hall or the local tax office to consult the tax
lists.
- Nordic virtue -
"The transparency translates into very high faith in
the tax administration here," Holte said. So high in fact that his agency
won a prize in 2015 for having -- believe it or not -- the best reputation.
"It also plays a role in discussions on societal and
economic issues, like wage gaps between men and women or between different
professions," Holte added.
The Nordic countries, known as fierce advocates of
egalitarianism, traditionally top Transparency International's ranking of least
corrupt countries.
In Sweden and Finland, it is also possible to obtain a
person's tax information by simply picking up the phone or going to the tax
office, but not on the internet like in Norway.
For just a few euros, the Swedish company Ratsit provides
access to almost any information on a person, enabling people to see if they
have any bank loans or if they have ever had an unpaid bill.
For Finns, paying taxes is a matter of pride: Ilkka
Paananen, the chief executive of Supercell which invented the hit mobile game
Clash of Clans, earned respect for paying a whopping 54.1 million euros in tax
in 2013.
- Burglars be warned -
Incidentally, the practice of transparency has also
helped fill the Norwegian state's coffers, by deterring cheats.
The publication of tax records online, introduced in
2001, has bolstered public revenues by about 500 million kroner (56 million
euros, $60 million) annually, according to Thor Olav Thoresen, a researcher at
Statistics Norway.
"If I were tempted to try to avoid paying taxes, I
would be dissuaded by the fact that those who can observe my lifestyle can also
easily check how much I earn," Thoresen said.
The tax agency said it gets about 3,000 to 4,000 tips a
year, most of them from private people.
There are some drawbacks to the system, however. The
practice can lead to snooping -- especially since online searches were for a
while anonymous.
Norwegian media have reported cases of pupils teased at
school over their parents' high or low incomes. And burglars have also been
arrested in possession of their victims' tax data.
"We even saw some apps that displayed the wealth of
the residents of a street when you drove down that street, or that
automatically displayed the wealth of your Facebook contacts," lamented
Rolf Lothe of the Taxpayers' Association.
As a result, some controls were put in place. As of 2014,
someone seeking tax information can no longer do so anonymously, and the person
whose information is being given out can easily find out who was checking up on
them.
The number of checks has since plummeted: from 16.7
million in October 2013-October 2014 -- more than three times the Norwegian
population -- they fell to just 1.5 million in October 2015-October 2016.
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