> The recent wealth tax increase in Norway was expected to bring in an additional $146M in yearly tax revenue.
I guess it's interesting to see who was expecting it. The country's tax authorities, the economists, regular folks? This would seem like something a freshman in econ 101 would be able to predict.
The whole "just raise taxes from 10% to 15%" works well in an isolated environment with no other places to go. If there are places with 12% taxes, it should be obvious that's where people will move their wealth to.
> Cities like Lucerne actively court Norwegian expatriates, creating communities of former Nordic residents who share similar tax-driven motivations for relocation.
Exactly. This happens for companies here in US as well. A city was raising taxes on a company headquartered there and were also asking them to donate for parks and other such nice things. Another state got wind of that, and invited the company to move the headquarters there instead, with all kinds of tax breaks and credits and such. So it's not only a passive move, but other locations actively trying to recruit entities to move there.
People don't want to contribute to the country that made them rich. I expect that in a place like the USA, where your taxed money can go to helping people who don't look like you or don't have your same values. But I assumed Norwegians don't mind helping Norway.
The problem isn’t Norway. The problem is everywhere else allowing the amassing of incredible wealth with suspiciously low taxation. But we can’t even agree on a common minimum corporate tax. So yeah. Go Norway. Shame on everyone else.
I'm a bit… hesitant to accept the article at face value. Obviously, the "mission" of this company is to help (rich) people to secure their wealth. I never knew such services exist, which might just mean that I'm not rich.
The article states: "This is why obtaining second citizenship and multiple passports is a crucial diversification strategy in the modern world."
If they're bi-national, have their citizenship revoked and them and their descendant forbidden from entering the country ever again unless they pay the tax they evaded.
Anyone who actually bothers to reads this article will know that it's blatant agenda pushing, nothing more. Here are some of the highlights:
a) The article is published by a company who's caters to rich individuals who want to gain citizenship in other countries by paying their way in. Morally dubious to begin with.
b) The 54B capital flight figure is unsubstantiated. They cite no sources, only a single hyperlink that redirects to their own completely unrelated webpage??
c) The lost tax revenue estimates also seem to be completely made up. In fact, they make no mention of the figures past the title and introductory paragraph. A complete joke of an article.
If you're interested to know the real numbers, the official national statistical institute of Norway (link below) tracks wealth tax revenues per year. From 2022 to 2023, revenues moderately increased from around NOK 26 billion to NOK 29 billion. 2024 statistics are only due to come out this year.
In practice, I don’t think tax policy is the primary driver for where people chose to live. Even very wealthy people.
If I were very wealthy the first thing I would want to buy is proximity to the people I love, the food I like, the culture I’m excited about. For many people that means being close to home.
I can’t imagine how shallow my life would have to be for me to optimize it around taxes.
The article is suspicious to me and I am flagging it.
It does not show any sources, it appears to be an attempt to go viral to spread the misinformation circularly. Further, the wealth tax news was from 2023 but they call it 'recent' (the post is dated 2025).
I'm disheartened by presumably left leaning people who are responding to this news with some variant of "shame on them" and "billionaires are bad."
I'm not trying to defend billionaires but I feel like the last years of left-wing political action has been the left trying to mash the "shame" button without realizing the button has been disconnected behind the panel.
The left used to be able to deplatform people. They can't anymore because there's more platforms. They need to think more in terms of sober cause and effect and basic political realities. If they don't, they'll just convince people that they can't govern.
The most foolish method is calculating startup valuations. While there are some so-called discounts, they are essentially negligible. You can think of it this way: if you receive $3 million in seed funding, the government considers you to have $30 million * your equity wealth. If you're one of two co-founders, owning 40% of the shares, that's $12 million in assets! Haha, the government thinks that's equivalent to owning 20 apartments in Oslo. Okay, they seem to have completely ignored the risks and mortality rates of startups.
Of course, this policy wasn't initially targeted at startups; it was primarily aimed at traditional industries. The reality is that the wealthy have plenty of ways to avoid taxes or even leave the country. People who own 20 houses in Oslo are unaffected; the only problem is that there are fewer people starting businesses and fewer opportunities to raise funds.
It's just that the people who formulated the policy were so stupid that they didn't understand the situation at all. These fundamental aspects won't change, because Norway's oil and sovereign wealth fund are enough to sustain them for a long time.
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[ 6.4 ms ] story [ 94.7 ms ] threadI guess it's interesting to see who was expecting it. The country's tax authorities, the economists, regular folks? This would seem like something a freshman in econ 101 would be able to predict.
The whole "just raise taxes from 10% to 15%" works well in an isolated environment with no other places to go. If there are places with 12% taxes, it should be obvious that's where people will move their wealth to.
> Cities like Lucerne actively court Norwegian expatriates, creating communities of former Nordic residents who share similar tax-driven motivations for relocation.
Exactly. This happens for companies here in US as well. A city was raising taxes on a company headquartered there and were also asking them to donate for parks and other such nice things. Another state got wind of that, and invited the company to move the headquarters there instead, with all kinds of tax breaks and credits and such. So it's not only a passive move, but other locations actively trying to recruit entities to move there.
Now you know which ones weren't really in Norway for the opportunities and the country lifestyle and values.
opportunities? I live here, opportunities are slim at the moment, because of the economy, not the millionaires.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY_1ZFNgY2g
It's hard to understand why they keep raising taxes.
The article states: "This is why obtaining second citizenship and multiple passports is a crucial diversification strategy in the modern world."
Sounds like blunt advertising to me.
I think a lot about how there's no shame in our industry. It's really wild how these folks are just so blatantly antisocial.
If they're bi-national, have their citizenship revoked and them and their descendant forbidden from entering the country ever again unless they pay the tax they evaded.
a) The article is published by a company who's caters to rich individuals who want to gain citizenship in other countries by paying their way in. Morally dubious to begin with.
b) The 54B capital flight figure is unsubstantiated. They cite no sources, only a single hyperlink that redirects to their own completely unrelated webpage??
c) The lost tax revenue estimates also seem to be completely made up. In fact, they make no mention of the figures past the title and introductory paragraph. A complete joke of an article.
If you're interested to know the real numbers, the official national statistical institute of Norway (link below) tracks wealth tax revenues per year. From 2022 to 2023, revenues moderately increased from around NOK 26 billion to NOK 29 billion. 2024 statistics are only due to come out this year.
https://www.ssb.no/en/statbank/table/10333
If I were very wealthy the first thing I would want to buy is proximity to the people I love, the food I like, the culture I’m excited about. For many people that means being close to home.
I can’t imagine how shallow my life would have to be for me to optimize it around taxes.
It does not show any sources, it appears to be an attempt to go viral to spread the misinformation circularly. Further, the wealth tax news was from 2023 but they call it 'recent' (the post is dated 2025).
This comment chain on reddit shows that there was a revenue decrease likely due to petrol prices. https://www.reddit.com/r/ProfessorFinance/comments/1or4l6u/n...
Looking at the NO gov website, I can see that there was an increase in revenue from the wealth tax but a decrease from petroleum. https://www.ssb.no/en/offentlig-sektor/offentlig-forvaltning...
So the citizenx site is falsely claiming the decrease in order to further its own agenda.
I'm not trying to defend billionaires but I feel like the last years of left-wing political action has been the left trying to mash the "shame" button without realizing the button has been disconnected behind the panel.
The left used to be able to deplatform people. They can't anymore because there's more platforms. They need to think more in terms of sober cause and effect and basic political realities. If they don't, they'll just convince people that they can't govern.
Of course, this policy wasn't initially targeted at startups; it was primarily aimed at traditional industries. The reality is that the wealthy have plenty of ways to avoid taxes or even leave the country. People who own 20 houses in Oslo are unaffected; the only problem is that there are fewer people starting businesses and fewer opportunities to raise funds.
It's just that the people who formulated the policy were so stupid that they didn't understand the situation at all. These fundamental aspects won't change, because Norway's oil and sovereign wealth fund are enough to sustain them for a long time.
Maybe Norway is a better place now...