The tax lists are out!!

[HoreTore]

It's time for the annual "find-out-what-the-bugger-next-door-is-really-earning"-time here in Norway, as the tax lists have been made public!

My data:

Income: 11
Tax: 0
Fortune: 12 833

Not quite one of the big guys after all... Oh well, I was a conscript last year so I didn't have any wages, I only got "compensation"... Not really sure where those 11 crowns come from though

http://www.dagbladet.no/skatt/sok/

Btw, are there any other countries who are doing this too? Or are the tax papers secret?

[Crazed Rabbit]

Secret here, I think, unless you're a politician, who have to disclose their earnings and fortune (for some races like President at least).

Having them public seems odd.

CR

[Proletariat]

It's an utter invasion of privacy here, which is why US income tax is so galling.

[Ronin]

over here they just publish the name of the people that don´t pay their taxes....the rest of the data is secret.

[TB666]

The swedish tax list hasn't gone out yet.
Not that it matters since I pay tax in Denmark so I wouldn't show up anyway which might make my neighbours curious and suspect illegal activities

[CountArach]

I don't believe we have that - though I could certainly see some great upsides to it.

[Husar]

I don't think we have that as well and I think that is very, very good.

[KukriKhan]

How interesting. I have questions:

Income: 11
Tax: 0
Fortune: 12 833

What is "fortune"?

Your link is to a search engine, I assume to the gov't tax database. I guess the first search term is "full name"; what is the second term ("Alder (Valgfritt)") ? City?

So, anyone armed with a full name & (city?) of a taxpayer can find out:

Reported Income
Income tax paid, and
Fortune (whatever that is)?

[Dîn-Heru]

fortune is money in the bank so to speak. Savings either in a bank or in stocks, property and so on. A persons available capital basically.

alder? valgfritt means age optional. ie you do not need to know the age of the person you are searching, only his/her name.

And yes, if you know a persons name you will see how much their real income was, how much they paid in taxes and how much capital they have.

(IMO a totally pointless thing to do in this day and age. They used to publish the list before the internet, but then it was on paper, and you had to go to the tax office to read them i think. It only serves to spying on your neighbour, in a fit of envy or gloating depending on whether you made more money than them or not. And the potential that this will be used by kids to pick on others whose parents does not make that much money is also very much present. Basically they should not be published as it is simply used for petty thrills and does not serve any public purpose..)

[Dîn-Heru]

Oh, and the link is not to a government site, but to one of the major newspaper sites, and most(all) of the newspaper sites have put the lists on their servers..

[KukriKhan]

Thank you Dîn-Heru, very informative. I gather, from the tone of your explanation that you disapprove of such public reporting? Or no?

On the "fortune" bit, does that number assume what a taxpayer's worth would be if all assets (land, stocks, bonds, securities, pension payments, annuities, et cetera) were converted to cash today?

If you typed in a known-wealthy Norwegian guy, what would his entry look like? Just the 3 lines? Or would it be more complicated?

[naut]

If you typed in a known-wealthy Norwegian guy, what would his entry look like? Just the 3 lines? Or would it be more complicated?

I guess so. I put in the name of Norwegian writer Jan Kjærstad, and this is what I got:

KJÆRSTAD, JAN 1953 688 472 290 926 2 244 586

Where it is:

Jan Kjærstad
Year of Birth: 1953
Income: 688 472
Tax: 290 926
Fortune: 2 244 586

[HoreTore]

On the "fortune" bit, does that number assume what a taxpayer's worth would be if all assets (land, stocks, bonds, securities, pension payments, annuities, et cetera) were converted to cash today?

It's the tax value of your assets. Not quite sure what that means exactly. For example, my dad's farm's tax value is just somewhere around 300k, but if he was to sell it, he would get at least 3-4 million for it.

If you typed in a known-wealthy Norwegian guy, what would his entry look like? Just the 3 lines? Or would it be more complicated?

Exactly the same. Try typing in Olav Thon, Stein Erik Hagen or Kjell Inge Røkke. But they might have 0 income and 50 million paid in taxes though..

@Rythmic: that would be middle-class though

[Dîn-Heru]

Thank you Dîn-Heru, very informative. I gather, from the tone of your explanation that you disapprove of such public reporting? Or no?

On the "fortune" bit, does that number assume what a taxpayer's worth would be if all assets (land, stocks, bonds, securities, pension payments, annuities, et cetera) were converted to cash today?

If you typed in a known-wealthy Norwegian guy, what would his entry look like? Just the 3 lines? Or would it be more complicated?

I don't exactly disaprove of the lists being available to the public. They used to only be available on hard-copy at the tax-office, which meant that you needed to put in an effort to check them. But because of the internet newspapers can now publish them on their site. So you can sit in the comfort of you home and basically spy on your neighbour. (And many of them advertize with the line "see what your neighbour made last year")

And the newspapers basically only use them in a tabloid way, not in a critical journalistic manner to uncover corruption or other financial shenanigans.

The thing is that these list only tell income, paid taxes and taxable capital (should have been more clear on this, it is as HoreTore said less than what it is if it should be liqidized (sp?) today). So if you have 0 in income, or 0 in taxes or a high capital value this does not necessarily mean that you are not contributing to society. But because the list does not show tax deductions, inheritance, or if you took a year of and lived of your savings. The lists only tell the total sum, and not the factors that made those numbers.

Because of this the situation basically becomes neighbours suspecting each other for cheating on their taxes, envy on the workplace, kids picking on eachother, gloating over the fact that your neighbour makes less than you and the other way round.

End of rant. The point is that it is an invasion of privacy that only seeks to draw out some of the worst behaviors in us. ie envy and gloating.

[Tribesman]

Try typing in Olav Thon, Stein Erik Hagen or Kjell Inge Røkke. But they might have 0 income and 50 million paid in taxes though..

Do the equivalent over here and you could get income 50 million and taxes 0

[CountArach]

Indeed - it seems to be a running theme in the rest of the Western World. These Savages haven't discovered the fine art of Tax evasion.

[naut]

Kjell Inge Røkke, doesn't appear on the list and it appears he spend 24-25 days in jail for the purchase of an illegal boat or something.

[Dîn-Heru]

Kjell Inge Røkke, doesn't appear on the list and it appears he spend 24-25 days in jail for the purchase of an illegal boat or something.

He does appear on the list, and he spent a month in jail (extreme minimum security I might add) for having bought a liscence to drive a big boat without having taken the exam.

[naut]

My mistake, so he does.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

I second good Prole'.

[HoreTore]

He does appear on the list, and he spent a month in jail (extreme minimum security I might add) for having bought a liscence to drive a big boat without having taken the exam.

Corruption and bribery of a public official, as it is more commonly known...

@CountArach, they have unfortunately, and those who have won't even appear on the list...