Comment: Here’s a crisis for Jonas

ÅLESUND (VG) Jonas Gahr Støre is the weakest of the coastal population. Many feel neglected here. This could cost the store and its people dearly.

It is an opinion. Comment expresses the writer’s position

In Ålesund, the Conservative Party and the FRP could secure a clear majority. In Møre and Romsdal, the FRP could become the largest party. It’s not because of immigration or crime. At Sunnmøre, they care about value creation. and tax.

If we are to believe what we hear from people here, wealth tax is like a dark and suffocating blanket over the region. The government’s introduction of the new ground rent tax, or real estate tax, last fall has upset many. They complain about the lack of advance notice from the government in Oslo.

But I probably think too much about wanting to see it. Approved. spoke, Not below, many people here now find that they are.

Both business owners and local politicians in Ålesund talk about how the current government doesn’t understand what they stand for. Taxes are certainly part of it. Rich people will always complain about tax regardless of size and content. But at the same time, most of them recognize the need to contribute to society.

Report right in the drawer

Especially the wealth tax they don’t like. But their problem is that they and their political colleagues are unable to present any good alternatives.

The tax debate is heating up. None of the major and responsible parties dare to propose changes that could affect their own voters. As a result, the necessary steps that could have provided us with a more efficient and fair tax system were not taken.

When Finance Minister Trygve Slacksvold Wedham received a comprehensive review of the tax system before Christmas, he put the report straight in the drawer. Thus, the possibility of a broader tax settlement also disappeared. It’s a pity.

Most people see the current property tax as having some negative aspects. For example, foreign owners don’t have to pay it. As a result, many fear that Norway’s right will be weakened. But if the wealth tax is to be replaced, Norway must have other ways of taxing the rich. Because if those who have more pay less, it will break our social model. We cannot be like this.

Fair and reasonable with inheritance tax

Although Norway is one of the very few countries with a wealth tax, we are also one of the very few without an inheritance tax. Erna Solberg’s government removed it with the stroke of a pen. Since then I have not dared to touch it.

The Tax Committee proposed to reduce property tax and introduce a new inheritance tax instead. Fairness is good. Inheritance tax is a less harmful and fairer way of taxing wealth.

The heir does not work for money. It’s about luck, about being born into a well-to-do family. It is only fair and reasonable that this “luck” goes to some community.

The group also wants work to be taxed less, especially for lower income earners. It will benefit most people.

It is a well-known fact that the government has to collect taxes. The question is what is the best way to do it, with the least harmful consequences. We need bold politicians, on both sides, who dare to challenge themselves and each other.

Bjornson and the Peasant’s Love

We also need politicians who can build bridges. It doesn’t take long to talk to the people of Sunmoring before you realize that the distance between east and west in Norway is great. Between the capital and Sunnmøre. And not least – between domestic culture and coastal culture.

It’s strange how Norway’s identity and cultural heritage are tied to the interior. Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and the Peasant’s Love, Storehouse and Rose Painting. Meanwhile Norway’s prosperity is largely based on the coast. Shipping, shipbuilding, fishing, oil industry – and oil and gas extraction.

Many Westerners would say they are coastal people, who look beyond – and ahead. There is little nostalgia to be found here. Whether it is running a plastic factory or fishing, people want to progress.

The right wing has done well here for a long time. But there are also strong unions – while there is a close relationship between workers and company owners. Many speak of shared ownership of what is created. And a common sense of pride.

Whether we are talking about small farmers or workers, compared to most of the interior, there have historically been strong differences between large farmers and the majority of the population.

With gratitude to the house of prayer

It’s a different character, a different culture. Perhaps it is endangered along the coast. Being out at sea is more intense than being on land. Greater chance of profit, and greater risk of loss. Both money and human life.

Large areas of the Westland coast are known as the “Bible Belt”. Here people are living with their lives in their hands. Before the men went to sea they prayed, and went to the house of prayer, and thanked God when things went well. Houses of worship are weak today. But it is part of Norwegian history, who we are.

Our political leaders need to understand all of Norway. A politician who does not understand western Norway risks going mad. Jonas Gahr Støre seems to be doing it now.