Two left-wing organisations, same Swedish tax system, two completely opposite ways of trying to cheat it.

IF Metall paid extra taxes and employer contributions on the Tesla strikers’ conflict compensation — even though the law clearly states it’s tax-free. Why? So their members wouldn’t lose out on sickness benefits, parental leave, unemployment insurance and other welfare goodies.

In other words: they deliberately overpaid taxes to keep their members comfortably inside the system they claim to defend.

At the same time, the climate activists at Återställ Våtmarker did the exact opposite. They paid their traffic-blocking activists “stipends” and tried to declare it tax-free. The Tax Agency and the Administrative Court called bullshit — it was compensation for work performed.

Result: the organisation now owes employer contributions, tax surcharges and interest. The individual activists will most likely get slammed with back taxes.

Two organisations.
Two radically different tax dodges.
Both with clear left-wing fingerprints.

This is hypocrisy at Olympic level.

They lecture the rest of us about solidarity, higher taxes and moral responsibility — while quietly doing everything in their power to game the very system they demand everyone else pay into.

Preaching redistribution by day. Dodging it by night.

Beautiful. Truly beautiful.

This is a new post on the new dewlar.me blog.
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The Norwegian Støre government (Labour + Centre) took office in 2021 and quickly raised the wealth tax. The top rate climbed to 1.1 %, and valuation rules for shares and properties were tightened.

The result? A sharp increase in wealthy Norwegians leaving the country. Analyses from Civita, Finansavisen and others show that the expected extra revenue never materialised. Instead, the state lost hundreds of millions – possibly up to a billion NOK annually – from the very group they wanted to tax more.

Overall wealth tax revenue did rise thanks to a broad base, but for the mobile rich the policy became a net loss.

Now Sweden is heading down the same road.

The opposition (S, MP and V) are promising higher taxes on ISK ahead of the 2026 election. The Social Democrats want to raise the rate above roughly 3 million SEK. The Greens and Left Party want to slash the tax-free allowance dramatically and add new restrictions.

More than 4 million Swedes – including teachers, nurses, warehouse workers and ordinary families – currently save in ISK. The average balance is around 600,000–650,000 SEK.

If ISK becomes less attractive, many will simply move their money to ordinary brokerage accounts. In those accounts the state gets zero annual flat-rate tax – only 30 % capital gains tax when (and if) people actually sell.

Just like in Norway, the behavioural response could make the whole policy counterproductive: lower long-term tax revenue, less capital formation, and weaker funding for the welfare state.

As someone who actually saves in ISK and pays taxes, I find it almost impressive how consistently the Left manages to design policies that punish exactly the behaviour they claim to want more of.

They want people to save and take responsibility — but not too much.
Because if ordinary Swedes become financially independent, who will they tax then?

This is a new post on the new dewlar.me blog.
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On April 7, 2026, Statistics Sweden released its Flash CPI for March 2026, where the CPIF (the Riksbank’s main measure) fell to 1.6 % – significantly lower than both forecasts and the Riksbank’s target of 2 %.

I wrote a post on April 10 where I sarcastically wondered how Governor Erik Thedéen would manage to justify maintaining or even raising the policy rate at the next monetary policy meeting, despite the Riksbank repeatedly undershooting its own inflation target.Today, April 22, we got the answer.

In a speech today at the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, Erik Thedéen said (my translation):

”The risk of inflation being higher than what the Riksbank expected a few weeks ago has increased due to the Iran war.”

Important clarification: Thedéen did not say that the Riksbank plans to raise the interest rate. He pointed to increased upside risks to inflation and said the central bank has room to “wait and see” for now, but that they may need to act if the higher inflation risk materialises. In practice, this is a classic way for the Riksbank to argue for continued caution – i.e. not cutting rates despite clearly too low inflation.

I expect Thedéen and other Riksbank officials will repeat this message frequently in the coming weeks, right up until the next monetary policy decision (to be made on May 6 and announced on May 7 at 09:50).

On the same morning, May 7 at 08:00, SCB will release the Flash CPI for April.

Question to my readers: Will the Riksbank once again prioritise possible future inflation risks over the current weak demand and clearly undershooting inflation target?

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Back in 2022 I wrote that working from home was quietly stealing a massive amount of productive time.

It wasn’t just the obvious loss of informal knowledge sharing — the things you unconsciously absorb when you walk past colleagues and overhear conversations. It was also the noticeably slower response times when calling companies whose staff work from home.

I suspect the reason is simple: they hope someone else will answer the phone, and since they’re safely hidden at home, this laziness is never visible the way it would be in the office.

Now Volvo’s new CEO, Håkan Samuelsson, (on a short two-year contract) has had enough. He is bringing people back to the office.

Critics are already crying foul: “After the pandemic, employees have become accustomed to a flexibility that made their private life better.”

As the user Aktiepappa on X perfectly summed it up: “With that kind of argument, I would have done exactly what Volvo is doing too.”

This is a new post on the new dewlar.me blog.
You can find the old blog here: https://mrsdewlar.blogspot.com

Sweden’s tax burden stands at 41.4 % of GDP – the 8th highest among 38 OECD countries (OECD average: 34.1 %).

Of these tax revenues, roughly 4 % goes to foreign aid – SEK 53 billion in 2026.

Unlike Americans, who voluntarily donate to causes they believe in, Swedes are forced to “give” through their tax bill. Politicians decide where the money goes.Yet it still leaks.In 2010, Johan af Donner, then communications director at the Swedish Red Cross, was sentenced to five years in prison for aggravated fraud and embezzlement of between 7.6 and 10 million kronor.In 2023, Nina von Krusenstierna was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison for embezzling SEK 1.65 million from the charity Vid din sida, which helps the homeless.

At the same time, senior managers at Stockholms Stadsmission earn over one million kronor per year, while store employees in their second-hand shops receive unusually low wages.

Even worse, Swedish tax money has indirectly ended up with organisations linked to Hamas. In 2025, Minister for International Development Cooperation Benjamin Dousa revealed that aid had gone to the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), which has documented ties to Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

When charity is mandatory, controlled by politicians, plundered by insiders, and partly ends up near terrorist organisations – it is hardly surprising that many Swedes are deeply sceptical about giving away their money.

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The Danish public service broadcaster DR swallows enormous amounts of tax money from Danish citizens, yet it struggles to deliver impartial radio and TV without pushing its own agenda.

Danish government parties – including the Social Democrats, Liberals and Moderates – insist that “privatisation solves nothing” and that DR is a cornerstone of democracy. At the same time they quietly admit to controversial documentaries and clear bias.

The debate is raging in Denmark right now. The Liberal Alliance is pushing hard for privatisation ahead of the new media agreement for 2027 onwards, while the government says no.

As Swedish taxpayers we can only hope the Danes don’t invite us to another “merger” like the one in 2009, when Posten AB and Post Danmark formed PostNord. Many Swedes still feel Denmark brought higher costs, worse profitability and major structural problems into the deal. Sweden was more profitable before the merger, but ended up carrying Danish burdens.

The result? Years of heavy losses, cutbacks, strikes and constant criticism – much of it blamed on the “Danish tangle” we bought into.

Just to be safe, maybe we should install a jammer between Denmark and Sweden so no more bad deals can cross the border.

This is a new post on the new dewlar.me blog.
You can find the old blog here: https://mrsdewlar.blogspot.com