Raising taxes doesn’t automatically improve welfare. It often just gives politicians and bureaucrats more money to spend on projects that bring very little value to people’s lives.

A clear example is when Region Skåne and the conceptual artists Goldin+Senneby decided to clone Old Tjikko — the world’s oldest known tree, a 9,550-year-old spruce from Fulufjället.

Cost: 7.9 million kronor of taxpayers’ money.

Purpose: To place a cloned sapling in a fancy glasshouse outside the new university hospital in Malmö as a symbolic “welcoming installation”.

Result: A tiny cutting in a greenhouse — and zero kronor contributed to actual welfare or healthcare.

This is the kind of project that makes you question the priorities when hospitals are struggling with staffing and waiting times.

We all know the rule: the less money you have, the better you are at making it last. When resources are scarce, you focus on what actually matters.

Perhaps we should apply that principle on a larger scale too.