Some protagonists this day are implied: The specter of inflation forcing restraint. At the same time, the recession with its ugly face demands a policy that stimulates the economy and avoids unemployment skyrocketing. The two are not entirely easy to reconcile, the Ministry of Finance points out.
First state budget negotiated by SD
Other main characters are necessary for the budget to pass through the Riksdag: The negotiators from the Tidö parties who, during a few cold summer weeks, exhausted the proposals we have seen today. And the result of this is the first Swedish state budget that the Sweden Democrats have been involved in negotiating from start to finish.
About this result, the party’s economic policy spokesperson Oscar Sjöstedt (SD) said this morning that he is satisfied. Of course, the climate budget should be a little smaller – “but we lost that negotiation”.
If the SD had got what they wanted, the climate would have been less and Sweden would probably have had even more difficulty reaching the set goals than what now appears to be the case. At the same time, the party makes a real impression in this budget, mainly through the reduced fuel tax, and through the cuts in public education, which are small in kroner but striking when measured by reactions from student unions. But SD’s biggest impression still applies to the whole, which is clearly closer to the center of Swedish politics than moderate-led governments’ state budgets usually do.
S finds it difficult to criticize
The moderates had to swallow that the only way to get through a job tax deduction was to accept a freezing of the cut-off point for state tax, which means that the Center Party could today call the budget a tax scam and tax hike shock. While the Social Democrats find it difficult to criticize the government’s tax cuts because they are close to what the party itself proposed last summer.
Therefore, a large part of the opposition’s criticism is directed at what is missing from the budget. From the Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Green Party, it is mainly the case that the government should spend significantly more on municipalities and regions, and they warn of a welfare slaughter next year. While the Center Party calls for a more coherent policy to increase growth.
And the finance minister himself can turn off the spotlight this evening with the observation that no one was completely satisfied with the budget this year either, and perhaps the dissatisfaction is at least evenly distributed.