This week we take a look at the stories likely to shape Sweden in 2024, from politics and Nato to minority rights, Eurovision, and the economy.
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Host Paul O’Mahony is joined for the preview of 2024 by all our regular panelists: James Savage, Becky Waterton, Richard Orange and Emma Löfgren.
Here are links to some of the stories we discuss:
A total of 27 billion kronor of Sweden's 60 billion kronor budget reforms will go towards lowering taxes. Let's take a look at the main tax cuts and who is set to benefit the most.
Who are the winners and losers?
Two high earners who have a joint income of around 180,000 kronor a month will get just over 3,400 kronor more in their bank account every month, whereas a couple of pensioners will only get 226 kronor more a month, according to banking giant SEB.
What are the tax cuts?
A new employment tax credit, a rebate given to everyone who has a job, worth 11 billion kronor. This will benefit everyone earning more than 16,000 kronor a month.
A rule that previously reduced the employment tax credit the more you earned will be scrapped. People earning between 778,000 kronor and just over 2 million annually will benefit the most. It’s expected to cost the state 4.7 billion kronor.
Taxes for pensioners are being lowered to the tune of 2.5 billion kronor, which means a median pensioner will see their taxes lowered by approximately 1,400 kronor a year.
The cap on who has to pay state tax will be raised to monthly salaries of 53,590 kronor. This cap is usually automatically raised every year in line with inflation, but last year the government suspended the hike due to Sweden’s rampaging inflation at the time.
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Are you one of 3.5 million people in Sweden saving money in an ISK account? In the new budget, the fixed tax on ISK accounts will be scrapped for any accounts with a balance of less than 150,000 kronor, rising to 300,000 kronor in 2026.
Cutting Sweden’s aviation tax will cost the state 870 million kronor. It corresponds to around 80 kronor for a domestic flight.
A total of 3.2 billion kronor will be spent on lowering the tax on fuel for vehicles.
If you own a motorhome, you’ll get a tax cut of almost 7,000 kronor, as 90 million kronor of the budget is allocated to lowering taxes on recreational vehicles.
What are the reactions?
The centre-left opposition immediately accused the government of unfairly prioritising high earners, also criticising the fact there’s significantly less money earmarked for welfare in this budget compared to last year: down from 16 billion to 7.5 billion kronor.
“It not only makes a mockery of ordinary people, but is also bad for the Swedish economy,” said Mikael Damberg, finance spokesman for the Social Democrats.
Pensioners’ association PRO also argued their members should have been compensated more in the budget. “We’re really talking ‘thumbs down’,” PRO chairwoman Åsa Lindestam was quoted by the TT news agency as saying.
Swedish Commerce, the association serving the trade and commerce sector, on the other hand welcomed the budget, as its members are directly affected by strengthening customers’ purchasing power – a key priority for the government in the bill.
The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise also praised the budget for trying to speed up growth, get more people into work and strengthen Sweden’s competitiveness.
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