– There is plenty of room for improvement – Dagsavisen

Such was the situation in the Norwegian parliament on Tuesday, when Solberg’s government presented its last state budget. Immediately after outgoing Finance Minister Jean-Toury Sanner (h) delivered his last fiscal speech, representatives of the incoming government stood ready in the walking hall to say that this budget had scratched their fingers after changing it.

They have admitted that they have little time, but they are still doing their best to get people to notice the arrival of a new government. The deadline for completing this work is November 10, according to Sp Sigbjørn Gjelsvik’s fiscal policy spokesperson, who was clear in his speech:

– It is important that in the short period that we get from working with next year’s budget, we still leave traces. We must show a willingness to take a new course in important areas, Gelsvik told Dagsavisen.

Now we will soon present a platform that clearly shows what we want with Norway for the next four years. We will start work immediately to show that we have already started work on adjusting the exchange rate in the state budget for next year.

[ Miljøbevegelsen ber Støre-regjeringen holde seg unna CO2-avgiften ]

looking for treasure

At the same time, Gelsvik acknowledged that there is “limited things we can do”, and that Sp hopes to change Norway significantly in the long term, especially in terms of taxation.

– There’s a lot I’d like to change. Gelsvik said that after eight years with a government that has helped increase the differences between people, and that has helped increase the differences between the different regions of the country, there will be a lot of change in the coming years.

There is a lot I would like to change.

– Sigbjørn Gjelsvik, Sp

– This is both to reduce differences between people, and to ensure a policy that sees all of Norway. If we look at the tax distribution table, says Gelsvik, again, it’s the highest earners and the wealthy who get the biggest tax cuts.

They also didn’t count the impact of the tax increases on the budget, and what their consequences would be for people, businesses and industries across Norway. All things are there, said Gelsvik, who nevertheless called for a responsible attitude, so it is very important that we go in now, so that we know how to arrange our budget which will come in so short a time.

The new government will not only change for the sake of change, but will carefully review the proposal of the outgoing government.

– We will, of course, help to adjust the budget on important points, but at the same time we will have a proper review of the various proposals and they will be carefully thought out, so as not to leave you with unforeseen effects that had unforeseen consequences. As this government has done over and over again, he claimed.

room for improvement

APS vice president and fiscal policy spokeswoman Hadia Tajik was more muddled in her comments, and will wait until after the new government takes office before commenting on the details and “details” in Yan Toure Sanner’s latest budget.

We will go through the details carefully, and then almost a new government will have to step in before commenting on the details of the 2022 budget. Our concern is to define a new path for Norway that is more equitable for the wallets of ordinary people. , in Tajik.

– But there is plenty of room for improvement! There is certainly something in this budget that can be well talked about, but I haven’t seen that yet, joked Tajik, who seemed more optimistic than Jelsvik about what the new government would do in a few weeks of autumn.

– We have seen in previous governmental changes, as in 2005, that it is possible to choose a clear new path, said Tajik, and we thought, among other things, of a big push that the government of Jens Stoltenberg made to the municipalities shortly after that. took office.

– It was done in a few weeks, Tajik said to the press present in the walking hall.

SV: – In the same rent

As is known, both the Labor Party and the Socialist People’s Party must settle their budgets with Parliament, and then first of all with the Socialist People’s Party. SV’s fiscal policy spokeswoman, Carrie Elizabeth Caskey, is not impressed with the starting point, namely Solberg’s government budget.

– This is a bourgeois budget that continues in the same way as the bourgeois government has done in the past eight years. She said it’s a tax cut for the country’s richest, there aren’t enough emissions cuts and to continue the big cuts in welfare that the current government has been responsible for for many years, and she said she remains satisfied that the government will increase the CO₂ tax by 28 percent.

– They’re going in the right direction on environmental taxes, and they’ve adopted some of the SV’s proposals for some form of green people bonus, where the increase in environmental taxes is paid off for most people. But he said he is very weak on the climate in general, and the government is leaning unilaterally on environmental taxes but forgets about spending big money on turning Norway away from an oil country into a climate one.

– SV wants a budget that reduces economic disparities in Norway. Then we should have a completely different tax file than this here. We must increase our efforts on climate and change in Norway. There is a lot that needs to be done, including restructuring our industry in a greener direction. So SV will now start creating our alternative budget and will display our priorities.

on my feet again

Outgoing Finance Minister Jean-Tore Sanner seemed pleased with his latest state budget, spending much of his speech telling what the government had achieved over the past eight years. At the very least, he mentioned that the government is starting to get the Norwegian economy back on its feet after the pandemic.

The Norwegian economy has emerged from the crisis. After a year and a half of having to shut down the community, we have reclaimed daily life. Through cooperation and action, we have dealt with the worst economic downturn since World War II. We did better than most of us. Saner, who has been responsible for all crisis appropriations, said both in terms of health and finances, but now warns of more “normal” state budgets in the coming years, with tighter priorities and less room for maneuver.

Stay informed. Get our daily newsletter from Dagsavisen here