Confusion about wealth tax: Return after tax – without taking tax into account?
Øyvind Thomassen and Floris Zoutman: A Norwegian investor is willing to pay the same as a foreign investor for a Norwegian company, despite the wealth tax.
Tax and Public Economics article archive
A call to Mæland and Thorburn
Petter Bjerksund and Guttorm Schjelderup: Jøril Mæland and Karin Thorburn have the burden of proof and must substantiate their claims.
Does anyone feel they have something to hide?
Øyvind Thomassen: Have we got the party "Tina Brus Party for a strong reduction in tax on chains"?
What do we want with the rich?
Gunnar S. Eskeland: It's not just their tax money we want, is it?
Violation of scientific norms
Petter Bjerksund and Guttorm Schjelderup: Thore Johnsen and Terje Lensberg's arguments about wealth tax were refuted in 2016, proven to be logically inconsistent. There was never a response, so the line has been drawn and the error admitted. Now they are using them again.
The rich are prioritized over ordinary people
Øyvind Thomassen: The debate about wealth tax in a nutshell is this: The rich know best.
Misunderstanding about wealth tax and required return
Petter Bjerksund and Guttorm Schjelderup: Wealth tax reduces investors' income, but at the same time it reduces investors' required return. The two effects offset each other, and Norwegian and foreign investors place the same value on the project.
New article by Traini
The article "Designing Net Wealth Taxes – Challenges in Valuing Shares in Unlisted Companies" has been published in World Tax Journal.
Facebook's tax trick is a well-known loophole
Theresa Bührle and Elisa Casi: What may seem like a niche phenomenon on Facebook is a well-known problem for those of us who research tax and corporate structuring.
The integrity of the oil fund requires cowardice
Gunnar S. Eskeland: The oil fund is a very vulnerable transfer of value to future generations. It may require both cowardice and musicality.
Top publication by Mohammed Mardan
The article "Sensitivity versus size: implications for tax competition" has been published in Theoretical Economics.
New article by Schjelderup
The article "Playing easy or playing hard to get: When and how to attract FDI" has been published in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization.
Essays in Environmental and Public Economics
On Tuesday 12 August Costanza Maria Ludovica Cincotta will hold a trial lecture on a prescribed topic and defend her thesis for the PhD degree at NHH.
Voters and politicians are the gold standard, not experiments
Gunnar S. Eskeland: I think the state is too important, too powerful, to experiment on us, the voters and taxpayers, who are the superiors of the state.
Tax Policy in Multinational Firms
On Thursday 26 June 2025 Henrik Svensli will hold a trial lecture on a prescribed topic and defend his thesis for the PhD degree at NHH.
Top publication by Floris T. Zoutman
The article "Optimal Taxation with Multiple Incomes and Types" has been published in Theoretical Economics.
Tax disclosure requirements: Appeared transparent, little changed
A new UK regulation was intended to make large companies more transparent about their tax practices. The result? More reporting and polished language, but not more real insight.
We need an exit tax! How to design it?
Nordic tax experts agree that we need an exit tax in times of mobility and instability. The devil is, however, as always in the details. How to design such a tax with a minimum unwanted side effects and distortions?
Building Bridges in Tax Research: European Workshop at NHH
This week, NHH hosted the first joint workshop on Tax and Sustainability in collaboration with WU Vienna University of Economics and Business and the University of Mannheim.
Listen to the tax refugees, bring them home – and get 50 billion more in taxes
Ole-Andreas Elvik Næss: We should find out what it takes to lure tax refugees home before 2027. If we succeed, the community will earn 50 billion kroner – much more than we lose by letting them avoid wealth tax for life.
Top publication by Elisa Casi-Eberhard
The article "Tax Strategy Disclosure: A Greenwashing Mandate?" has been published in Journal of Accounting Research.
Corporate tax must increase to over 30 percent to cover wealth tax
Petter Bjerksund and Guttorm Schjelderup: The corporate tax rate must be raised to 28 percent if it is to finance the abolition of the entire wealth tax, and to over 30 percent if the combined corporate and dividend tax is to be kept at the current level.
New article by Næss
The article "Investigative journalism: Market failures and government intervention through public broadcasters" has been published in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization.
Government wealth can weaken private effort
Gunnar S. Eskeland: Martin Bech Holte believes that the oil wealth has weakened our interest in creative owners who put capital and ability to change at their disposal at their own risk. It is a debate we should certainly have.
Professional tax debate, please, not easy opinions about tax
Petter Bjerksund, Arnt Ove Hopland and Guttorm Schjelderup: Calculation of tax costs necessarily requires data for tax and income, and we only get such data after the tax has been paid. A forward-looking, speculative method does not strengthen the tax debate.
The tax bill of the richest
Petter Bjerksund, Arnt Ove Hopland and Guttorm Schjelderup: If we remove the wealth tax, the effective tax is greatly reduced for the rich. For an investor, the tax drops from 21 percent to 15 percent just by assuming that the share capital is unlisted, not listed.
Tax increase of 107 percent? Indeed
Petter Bjerksund and Guttorm Schjelderup: Menon's "summary of knowledge" is tax propaganda. It polarises the debate, undermines NHO's reputation and prevents a tax policy compromise that could give companies stable tax framework conditions.
Taxation of ownership has not increased by 107 percent
Ole-Andreas Elvik Næss: Although there are good arguments for the wealth tax to be reduced, there are not as good arguments for the corporation tax to be raised.
`Norwegian tax system benefits the wealthiest´
The very wealthiest benefit from a far lower effective tax burden compared to those earning slightly less, a new study shows.
How tax transparency can shape fairer financial systems
This week, NoCeT hosted the Conference on Tax Transparency, a gathering of international experts, policymakers, and industry leaders to tackle the global challenge of tax avoidance and evasion.
Serious errors in NHO's tax report
Petter Bjerksund, Guttorm Schjelderup and Floris T. Zoutman: Menon's tax report for NHO misleads readers. It inflates the importance of wealth tax and sets up calculations that falsely double the effective average tax rate.
Top publication by Malin Arve
The article "Auctioning Long-Term Projects under Financial Constraints" has been published in Review of Economic Studies.
More tax on dynasties, less on innovation
Ole-Andreas Elvik Næss: Founders and small businesses deserve a tax debate that puts innovation at the centre, not a debate where the richest families get to dictate the terms.
We need lower taxes than we understand ourselves
Ole-Andreas Elvik Næss: Why are there so few in the public debate who care about tax relief for all?
This is how share taxation can be improved
Petter Bjerksund and Guttorm Schjelderup: It is not a good idea to remove the exemption method. But we can improve shareholder taxation by treating losses and gains from share sales equally, as well as raising the shielding rate.
Skattesymposium
When the 4th Norwegian Symposium on Tax Accounting gathered in Bergen recently, hosted by NoCeT and NHH, professor and organizer Maximillian Todtenhaupt said the event have fulfilled its purpose of bringing together some of the best researchers globally on tax accounting.
High time to reconsider the exemption method
Ole-Andreas Elvik Næss and Magne Mogstad: The time is overdue for a critical review of the exemption method. But it is difficult to get a good debate going when there is NOK 3,100 billion on the opposite side of the debate.
ENGAGE.EU funding brings new podcast and workshop to life
Two NHH researchers were among the winning initiatives selected to receive Engage.EU seed funding to create platforms for knowledge exchange.
Need for faster procurement of defense materials
The government seeks a new law on defense and security procurement to enable Norway to acquire defense materials more quickly.
Top publication by Mohammed Mardan
The article "Optimal platform pricing with multi-sided users: A direct and indirect network approach" has been published in European Journal of Operational Research.
Social Inequality in Dental Health: What Are the Solutions?
Ten percent of the Norwegian population does not visit the dentist, often due to financial constraints. Today, the Dental Health Committee will present its NOU, which highlights potential solutions.
The Conservatives are selling their grandmother so that the richest will avoid wealth tax
Ole-Andreas Elvik Næss: The Conservative Party and NHO want "old ladies with some wealth" to pay wealth tax, while the very richest should be exempt.
The NoCeT tax summer school 2024
Around 20 international PhD students gathered in Bergen this week to attend the course “EEU551 The Real and Reporting Effects of Business Taxation”.
Low birth rates worry the Norwegian government
We are having fewer and fewer children in this country, which could pose problems in the long term. Now, a new expert committee will look into whether there are measures that can reverse the trend.
So what is the alternative to wealth tax?
Guttorm Schjelderup: My NHH colleagues Jøril Mæland and Karin Thorburn want to remove wealth tax and are concerned with distribution. But they do not propose alternative and equally effective proposals for redistribution.
Exploring the future of business taxation
The Tax loop workshop at NHH this week: How to improve taxation of businesses and their owners.
Drivers behind tax non-compliance
On Friday 26 April 2024 Thomas Lange will hold a trial lecture on a prescribed topic and defend his thesis for the PhD degree at NHH.
Jarle Møen joins expert committee
Exemptions from VAT on repairs and second-hand goods have been a hot topic recent years. Now, NHH Professor Jarle Møen joins the committee that will examine VAT reductions for reuse.
Underestimating tax evasion among self-employed women
Self-employed women underreport their income to the tax authorities more than men do; a new study shows. `We should perhaps reconsider assumed gender differences in this field´, says NHH researcher Julie Brun Bjørkheim.
Agree with Civita's Fasting about zero tax payers
Jarle Møen: The term zero tax payer should be out of the debate.
Setting the course for priorities in healthcare
How to provide a good and fair healthcare service within the resources available to Norway? The expert group, with Professor Kurt Brekke as a member, has assessed the consequences of increased transparency about the Norwegian government's willingness to pay.
NHH-BU tax reading group
Since Spring 2021, the tax researchers at NHH Norwegian School of Economics and Boston University Questrom School of Business meet once a month digitally and discuss a tax-related research project.
Top publication by Guttorm Schjelderup
The article "The global minimum tax raises more revenues than you think, or much less" has been published in Journal of International Economics.
New article by Juranek
The article "Royalty taxation under tax competition and profit shifting" has been published in Canadian Journal of Economics.
Gavrilova promoted to full professor
Evelina Gavrilova-Zoutman has been promoted to professor in the field of tax and public economics, and economics of crime.
New article by Mardan
The article "The unintended consequences of semi-autonomous revenue agencies" has been published in Canadian Journal of Economics.
Piketty attracted a record-breaking audience
`Historically, we see a movement towards greater economic and political equality. I believe there is reason to be optimistic, said Thomas Piketty, giving this year's Sandmo Lecture at NHH.
Lower tax for business owners now than under Stoltenberg
Petter Bjerksund and Guttorm Schjelderup: The real tax rate is 20 percent of the company's profit this year for a typical investor with a large fortune in a wholly owned, unlisted company. It is lower than under the Stoltenberg government.
Nordic Tax Delegates Annual Meeting
Once a year, the representative of the tax authorities from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden meet to discuss the latest on the taxation of dividend income. This year, they met in Stavanger on May 23, 2023 and for the first time they invited researchers for one day workshop around the topic of dividend tax arbitrage.
Piketty to speak on inequality at NHH
Thomas Piketty gives «The Sandmo Lecture on Public Policy» on Friday 9 June at NHH Norwegian School of Economics.
Something is wrong in the Debate
Petter Bjerksund and Guttorm Schjelderup: NRK's tax debate is based on meaningless assumptions: All returns in the "Tangens oil fund" go to the "household budget" and must therefore be tax-free. Is the tax really the problem, not the withdrawal?
Total tax on companies and owners is too high in Norway
Petter Bjerksund, Guttorm Schjelderup and Floris T. Zoutman: Total tax on owners and companies in Norway is 13.5 percentage points higher than in the countries with which we should compare ourselves. Norway is on the wrong track.
Competition on equal terms
Øyvind Thomassen: Two companies, Flikk and Flakk, produce electric car chargers and must invest NOK one billion each. Flikk's owner lives in Switzerland, Flakk's owner in Norway. Does Flakk have a disadvantage that prevents profitable growth?
Løken receives the Nansen award for young researchers
The Fridtjof Nansen award for young researchers 2023 goes to NHH Professor Katrine V. Løken. She receives the prestigious prize for her excellent research in economics.
DON’T SOW DOUBT ABOUT THE TAX LOOPHOLE BEING CLOSED – THEN THE EXODUS MIGHT SLOW DOWN
The influx of rich Norwegians into Switzerland is increasing. New calculations clearly show that this is about exploiting a tax loophole to avoid paying the bill for deferred income tax.
Guest Lecture from Magnus Andresen
On February 8, 2023 NHH and NoCeT had the pleasure to welcome Magnus Andresen as guest lecturer for the master courses “Taxes and Business Strategy” and “Personal Finance and Taxation”.
How to get funding from the Research Council of Norway
In 2022, Alexander Willén received NOK 8 million in funding through the Researcher Project for Young Talents. Read his tips about the application process.
NORWAY, A POOR COUNTRY?
For many of us, it would probably be a good idea to tighten our belts. But do we have to? And what about those who can’t tighten their belts any further? So asks Victor Norman in the newspaper Dagens Næringsliv.
The Tax Commission protects the super rich
Petter Bjerksund and Guttorm Schjelderup: It creates a dynasty effect where wealth accumulates among the few.
Unsubtle about tax
Ola Kvaløy, Jarle Møen and Ragnar Torvik: The Norwegian Tax Commission is proposing a reform that will make it more worthwhile to work, especially for those with fairly low wages or high wages.
`Will limit the reporting of aggressive tax planning´
Last week the EU Court Justice made a striking decision. The court says that a 2018 directive intended to mandate the collection and exchange of information about cross-border tax arrangements, violates the lawyer-client confidentiality.
Actions from behavioral economics reduce tax evasion
Andreas Olden: If the Norwegian Tax Administration sends out a behavior oriented letter, we can almost count the impact in terms of the difference in kroner and øre that comes in as tax money after the letters.
Discussed tax transparency initiatives
Currently, tax transparency ranks high on governments’ agenda as being one of the key policy tools to reduce tax avoidance and evasion. This week NHH and SNF arranged a conference on tax transparency.
Sæthre receives an ERC Starting Grants
Associate Professor Morten Sæthre has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant for his project «Distributional Effects of Environmental Policy: DEEP».
Additional tax is power, not a partnership
Gunnar S. Eskeland: The oil tax package is the story of a state which, in miserable, nocturnal proceedings on additional taxes, cannot take care of itself, but gives away the people's money to special interests, apparently without getting anything in return.
Taxfair – a project funded by the European Commission
European Commission’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action has funded the research project TAXFAIR that aims to provide a knowledge-based framework for governments and policymakers around the world to implement an effective system for the automatic exchange of information.
The fee should be scrapped
Petter Bjerksund and Guttorm Schjelderup: The high-price tax will give us less clean power in both the short and long term. It is a textbook example of how a tax should not be launched.
Now it seems that the fox has gotten into the hen house
Petter Bjerksund and Guttorm Schjelderup: The fixed price scheme has now got a loophole which makes it most profitable for the power producers to offer fixed price agreements to the customers who need it the least.
Lead article by Olden and Møen
The article "The triple difference estimator" has been published in the September issue of the Econometrics Journal, as the editor's choice of lead article. Editor’s choice-articles are published as open access.
Now it is hydropower's turn to receive a tax package
Petter Bjerksund and Guttorm Schjelderup: The power producers' description of reality and arguments characterize the government's proposal for changes in power taxation. The proposal may have unintended effects that weaken competition and the power market itself.
Top publication by Maximilian Todtenhaupt
The article "Withholding Taxes, Compliance Cost, and Foreign Portfolio Investment" has been published in Accounting Review.
EU Tax Observatory Annual Conference title “Tax Avoidance and Offshore Wealth: Policies for Tomorrow”
Assistant Professor, Elisa Casi-Eberhard, was among the speakers at the first high-level policy event organized by the EU Tax Observatory on June 13, 2022, in Brussels.
Skattlegging av digitale tjenester
Master thesis by Marcus Andersen Holte and Sander Sivertsvoll.
«Essays on Behavioural Economics and Tax Compliance»
On Friday 17 June 2022 Andreas Olden will hold a trial lecture on a prescribed topic and defend his thesis for the PhD degree at NHH.
Visit from the Tax commission of Høyre
The Tax commission of Høyre, the Norwegian Conservative Party, visited NHH on 20 May.
New article by Todtenhaupt
The article "Taxation and the external wealth of nations: Evidence from bilateral portfolio holdings" has been published in Journal of International Money and Finance.
Investor's dividend decision and the wealth tax
By Petter Bjerksund and Guttorm Schjelderup has been published in Samfunnsøkonomen.
Research project by Casi, Mardan & Muddasani
Research project by Casi, Mardan & Muddasani funded by the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research.
Van Reenen gives the 2022 Sandmo Lecture
LSE-professor John Van Reenen gives The Sandmo Lecture On Public Policy on Friday 29 April. Title of his lecture: "Inequality and Superstar Firms"
New article by Traini
The article "Aggressive Tax Planning and Labor Investments" has been published in Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance.
Mohammed Mardan new NHH PROFESSOR
Mohammed Mardan has been promoted to professor in the field of Business Economics.
The Oil Fund and active management: Follow the Tinbergen Rule!
Trond Døskeland: The Oil Fund's active return is positive, but it is small - NOK 170 billion since 1998, according to the analysis we have done for the Ministry of Finance.
New article by Todtenhaupt
The article "Thinking outside the box: The cross-border effect of tax cuts on R&D" has been published in Journal of Public Economics.
Are central banks really independent?
Øyvind Thomassen: The central banks are involved in a poker game where they have bluffed at least since the financial crisis. And they dare not do anything but raise in each round.
Is the housing market «too big to fail»?
Øyvind Thomassen: If house prices ever fall considerably that will lead to an economic decline. Will the government save highly leveraged homeowners?
Wealth tax is no gift to foreign investors
Øyvind Thomassen: Wealth tax is not significant when it comes to financing of new projects. The exception is small firms that have to finance investments with own funds.
Printing money alters the fundamental idea of capitalism
Øyvind Thomassen: The extremely expansive monetary policy causes that income is mainly determined by how much you already have. The risk is that the support of the market economy disintegrates.
The miracle drug public procurement
Malin Arve: Government procurement is now meant to promote environment, innovation and technological development. But sufficient budgets and high competence is necessary, otherwise we could end up with poor and more expensive procurement.
Top publication by Møen and Schjelderup
The article "The tax-efficient use of debt in multinational corporations" has been published in Journal of Corporate Finance.
Only start-up problems? Or overdose of wonder drug?
Øyvind Thomassen: The US central bank has, since March last year, printed new dollar bills worth more than three Norwegian oil funds, money they have spent on buying securities. Has that blown up the capacity in the economy and created lasting, troublesome inflation?