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Almost 30 years have passed since Sweden reformed its tax system in 1991. Since then, both society and the tax system have undergone major changes. Much attention has focused on labor income taxation, but the changes in capital taxation and the increases in wealth and capital income have been at least as significant. The basic tax principles of uniformity and neutrality have been abandoned. Rapid capital growth has not only created opportunities for investment and growth, but also prompted concerns about growing inequality, with social and political repercussions.
The SNS Economic Policy Council Report 2018 analyzes and discusses the state of capital taxation in Sweden. The analysis is based on current theoretical and empirical research in the field of economics of taxation and on facts relating to the structure of the economy and the tax system.
About the authors
Daniel Waldenström (chairman), Professor of Economics, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, and Visiting Professor, Paris School of Economics.
Spencer Bastani, Associate Professor of Economics, Linnæus University.
Åsa Hansson, Associate Professor of Economics, Lund University.
SNS Economic Policy Council
The SNS Economic Policy Council was initiated in 1974 and brings together leading academic economists to write an annual report with independent recommendations for economic policy.
The SNS Economic Policy Council Report 2018 was launched on January 17, 2018 in Stockholm. Commentators at a public event were Leif Jakobsson, State Secretary with responsibility for taxation at the Ministry of Finance, and Elisabeth Svantesson, spokesperson for economic policy issues for the Moderate Party. Magdalena Andersson, Minister of Finance, spoke about the topic on the same day at the SNS Board of Trustees general meeting.
The report has also been presented at SNS local chapters and in a number of other arenas. The report has received widespread media coverage.