Denmark should give any future tax cuts to people at the bottom of the income scale where the reductions would do more to boost the labor supply, Danish Minister of Employment Claus Hjort Frederiksen said.
Cutting taxes for lower income groups is "where we think we can make the biggest difference to the labor supply, by getting these people into jobs," Frederiksen said in a telephone interview on Friday.
The ruling coalition needs to ease a labor shortage that threatens to push up inflation and slow economic growth. It also needs to raise its own support after Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen last week called an election for Nov. 13 in a country where opinion polls show that welfare spending has become more popular than tax cuts.
I am "not a great believer in major change to the taxation system," Frederiksen said, even though cutting taxes is a declared goal of his government.
The employment minister also said the government won't consider limiting the pace of increases in unemployment benefits. The unemployed can claim as much as 14,500 kroner (US$2,800) a month in benefits, with that amount pegged to wage growth.
"Just tracking inflation wouldn't be enough to ensure that people can continue to lead reasonable lives," he said. "This is an expensive society we live in."
The Liberal-Conservative coalition and parliamentary ally, the Danish People's Party, would receive 86 of 175 seats in parliament if an election were held now, a Ramboell poll published on Saturday by Jyllands-Posten showed. The Social Democratic-led opposition would get 79 seats.
Frederiksen's comments imply the government will resist pressure from coalition partners, the Conservative Party, to target tax cuts on the rich. Reducing taxes at the top of the income scale, where Danes pay 63 percent on annual income above US$68,750, would boost the labor supply more than cuts lower down in the income scale, according to data compiled by the Copenhagen-based Center for Political Studies.
"Economic models are all well and good, but we have to push through policies that receive popular acceptance," Frederiksen said. "I haven't seen any evidence suggesting that cutting taxes for top income earners will actually encourage people to work more."
Forty percent of Danes in full-time jobs pay the top tax rate, according to provided by the Center for Political Studies.
The government last month cut taxes for lower and middle income earners to try to encourage Danes to work longer hours in what the central bank has dubbed the worst labor shortage in decades. The unemployment rate held at 3.3 percent in August, a 33-year low.
The government is trying to persuade voters that tax cuts don't come at the expense of welfare or create inequality.
Sixty-seven percent of Danes would pay higher taxes to ensure improved state services for all, a Synovate survey published by the weekly electronic magazine Mandag Morgen showed on Sept. 3. Forty-eight percent of voters don't want tax cuts, according to an Aug. 19 Vilstrup poll for Politiken newspaper. That compares with 44 percent of voters who welcome cuts.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts
RSS