Okay, the headline is an exaggeration, but Sweden’s decision to eliminate the wealth tax already is paying dividends as successful Norwegians contemplate moving across the border to escape Norway’s even more punitive tax regime.


Other Nordic nations, including Denmark and Iceland, already have abolished their wealth taxes, so hopefully tax competition will force Norway to end this punitive form of double taxation:

There are not many countries in which Sweden would be considered a tax haven, but one wealthy Norwegian says she plans to move across the border now that the government has scrapped the wealth tax. Caroline Hagen is the daughter of Norwegian financier Stein Erik Hagen, and plans to take advantage of the less severe taxes under the new centre-right government. Her sister Camilla could soon follow. Stein Erik Hagen, whose family-owned holding company Canica has major shareholdings in a number of retail companies and consumer goods firms, said that Sweden’s decision to axe the wealth tax would encourage many more wealthy Norwegians to cross the border.