Norwegian Tax Returns made public today

[Breadan O'Connor]

"PM"[/I] would vote for something like this on his salary.

Norway has had only a very mild recession. They have control of their oil gas and fisheries, also they have large renewable energy resources.

Norway must be one of the best places to live right now!

What a contrast with Ireland!

[Chancey Gardener]

I did say it wasn't new news, just thought it would be interesting given current issues tax issues in Ireland & who is paying their share...

Not sure how much detail is provided but this would probably mean would indirectly know how much your friends and neighbours earn. It would also probably highlight the people taking advantage of tax loopholes & tax saving incentives. The downside is it would make everyone very nosey.

No chance Irish politician salaries will be benchmarked against Norway.

Oh. I see your point.

I remember when I first heard about it when I was over in Norway and I thought the exact same as you...i.e. that would freak out people in Ireland.

As for making people nosey, that's a given. The curtain waggers would have a field day initially. However, there's also an honesty to it that is hard to argue against. It didn't bother me in the least that my neighbours or other could simply tap in my name and see exactly what I earned last year and how much tax I paid.

I never used it myself to look up someone else out of nosiness but I do remember using it on one occasion for business reasons - I was nervous about a builder who was offering a deal too good to be true for some renovation work where I was living. It turned out he was legit and nothing untoward happened, but, it was actually really useful to be able to check people up in that context.

[politicaldonations]

In the UK the info is freely available on the web.

Yeah, i checked the price of a friends house in manchester. It has all the info from [revious sales over the years too. Its no big deal, people know roughly what a house sold for by looking at asking price, asking price of similar houses, average house price etc etc.

[Victor Meldrew]

Norway 25% VAT rate and tax rate not exactly non existing either.

Yes, but I hear they have a functioning society and health systems.

I'd pay more taxes if we had a real government OF the peopleE.

[odie1kanobe]

Yes, but I hear they have a functioning society and health systems.

I'd pay more taxes if we had a real government OF the peopleE.

If such a perfect country one wonders why suicide rate is 20% higher than in Ireland.

[sparkey321]

I can't recall the exact figures, but I read recently that the difference between the poorest and richest people in Denmark (I'm sure the situation is similar in Norway) is amazingly small - a fraction of what it is in 'selfish capitalist' countries like the US, UK - or Ireland.

Some might say this hampers ambition and enterprise, but given that the Scandinavians punch above their weight in business terms (think of the number of well-known Scandinavian firms), this does not appear to be the case at all. Also, it's been shown many times that the more equal societies are, the happier they are. Scandinavia, though certainly not perfect, does seem to be as close to a social paradise as any society that has ever existed.

I suppose that would explain the high suicide rates in Norway and Denmark

[Victor Meldrew]

If such a perfect country one wonders why suicide rate is 20% higher than in Ireland.

Is that not a lattitude issue?

Not perfect, and there is always the risk of an over arching state leading to alienation, but we have an "under-arching state" and our suicide rates are gim.

But, back to the OP, did we not do something similar with Farmers' payments under the CAP? There was outrage over this, but it did show how the CAP needs reform (not an Ireland specific issue, it's EU wide).

I don't favour the posting of salaries (ie TAX paid) publicly though.

[tibby]

The Norwegian model is the most convincing argument in favour of EU withdrawal. Whether we could recreate their success is another thing as the culture is so different over there. There is real social solidarity whereas here its all "im alright jack".

[DaveM]

The Norwegian model is the most convincing argument in favour of EU withdrawal. Whether we could recreate their success is another thing as the culture is so different over there. There is real social solidarity whereas here its all "im alright jack".

What do you mean? The EU is the reason we haven't found a shed load of oil off our coast? How have we been so blind to this?!!

[tibby]

Norway is easily one of if not the most successful countries in the world and all without EU membership. The reason is their social model and Norwegian euroscepticism is based around protecting that social model.