Posts tagged "open"

Norway, the country where you can see everyone’s tax returns

 

In Norway, (since the 1800s) no one can disguise their earnings, as every citizen’s is made available for everyone else in the country to inspect. Workers can see what their colleagues earn and neighbours can snoop on how much the people next door make – all legally and online.

On a date every year in October, just after midnight, Norwegian citizens’ annual tax returns are posted online – and the country’s Norwegian newspapers leap to produce top ten lists of the country’s highest earners, the incomes and taxes paid by the political and cultural elites, celebrities and sportspeople. There are a few limits on how the data is disclosed. Only total income and total tax paid is revealed.