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Swedish Wealth Taxation (1911–2007)

In: Swedish Taxation

Author

Listed:
  • Gunnar Rietz
  • Magnus Henrekson

Abstract

Modern wealth taxation was introduced in Sweden in 1911 by the 1910 Ordinance of Income and Wealth Taxation, SFS 1910:115.1 Various kinds of duties and fees on estates had existed previously, but only for small and specific parts of the tax base and population strata.2 The 1910 reform conferred an important role to the ability-to-pay principle in the Swedish income tax system, thus making it natural to take advantage of the greater ability to pay tax that possession of wealth gave the taxpayer (SOU 1969:54, 78).3 A second motive was to compensate for the erosion of other tax bases and growing government financing needs. Likewise, several types of wealth tax were introduced during and between the World Wars in order to fund the military. Finally, beginning in the early 1930s, the wealth tax was motivated as a means of redistribution (SOU 1969:54, 8–9).4

Suggested Citation

  • Gunnar Rietz & Magnus Henrekson, 2015. "Swedish Wealth Taxation (1911–2007)," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Magnus Henrekson & Mikael Stenkula (ed.), Swedish Taxation, chapter 0, pages 267-302, Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-47815-3_6
    DOI: 10.1057/9781137478153_6
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gunnar Rietz & Magnus Henrekson & Daniel Waldenström, 2015. "Swedish Inheritance and Gift Taxation (1885–2004)," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Magnus Henrekson & Mikael Stenkula (ed.), Swedish Taxation, chapter 0, pages 223-265, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Gunnar Rietz & Dan Johansson & Mikael Stenkula, 2015. "Swedish Labor Income Taxation (1862–2013)," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Magnus Henrekson & Mikael Stenkula (ed.), Swedish Taxation, chapter 0, pages 35-122, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Mervyn A. King & Don Fullerton, 1984. "The United Kingdom," NBER Chapters, in: The Taxation of Income from Capital: A Comparative Study of the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Germany, pages 31-86, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Steven J. Davis & Magnus Henrekson, 1997. "Industrial Policy, Employer Size, and Economic Performance in Sweden," NBER Chapters, in: The Welfare State in Transition: Reforming the Swedish Model, pages 353-398, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Mervyn A. King & Don Fullerton, 1984. "Introduction to "The Taxation of Income from Capital: A Comparative Study of the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Germany"," NBER Chapters, in: The Taxation of Income from Capital: A Comparative Study of the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Germany, pages 1-6, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Ohlsson, Henry, 2011. "The legacy of the Swedish gift and inheritance tax, 1884–2004," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(3), pages 539-569, December.
    7. Mervyn A. King & Don Fullerton, 1984. "The United States," NBER Chapters, in: The Taxation of Income from Capital: A Comparative Study of the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Germany, pages 193-267, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Mikael Stenkula & Dan Johansson & Gunnar Du Rietz, 2014. "Marginal taxation on labour income in Sweden from 1862 to 2010," Scandinavian Economic History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 62(2), pages 163-187, June.
    9. Mervyn A. King & Don Fullerton, 1984. "The Taxation of Income from Capital: A Comparative Study of the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Germany," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number king84-1.
    10. Freeman, Richard B. & Topel, Robert H. & Swedenborg, Birgitta (ed.), 1997. "The Welfare State in Transition," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226261782, September.
    11. Mikael Stenkula, 2015. "Taxation of Real Estate in Sweden (1862–2013)," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Magnus Henrekson & Mikael Stenkula (ed.), Swedish Taxation, chapter 0, pages 303-327, Palgrave Macmillan.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gunnar Rietz & Dan Johansson & Mikael Stenkula, 2015. "Swedish Labor Income Taxation (1862–2013)," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Magnus Henrekson & Mikael Stenkula (ed.), Swedish Taxation, chapter 0, pages 35-122, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Arun Advani & Hannah Tarrant, 2021. "Behavioural responses to a wealth tax," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 509-537, September.
    3. Florian Scheuer & Joel Slemrod, 2021. "Taxing Our Wealth," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 207-230, Winter.
    4. Henrekson, Magnus & Stenkula, Mikael, 2015. "Swedish Taxation since 1862: An Overview," Working Paper Series 1052, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 10 Sep 2015.
    5. Ohlsson, Henry & Roine, Jesper & Waldenström, Daniel, 2014. "Inherited wealth over the path of development: Sweden, 1810–2010," Working Paper Series, Center for Fiscal Studies 2014:7, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    6. Magnus Henrekson & Daniel Waldenström, 2016. "Inheritance taxation in Sweden, 1885–2004: the role of ideology, family firms, and tax avoidance," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 69(4), pages 1228-1254, November.
    7. Mikael Stenkula, 2015. "Taxation of Real Estate in Sweden (1862–2013)," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Magnus Henrekson & Mikael Stenkula (ed.), Swedish Taxation, chapter 0, pages 303-327, Palgrave Macmillan.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Family Firm; Reduction Rule; Firm Owner; Withdrawal Percentage; Extra Dividend;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • K34 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Tax Law

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