Interesting news from Sweden

Thanks to the excellent Powerline blog that I have quoted once or twice before, I find some interesting news from Sweden. It would appear that the Swedes are thinking of further cuts in income tax in order to boost the economy.

Sweden, I hear you cry? Socialist, nanny-state Sweden? Well, actually, there are interesting anomalies in the Swedish system, not least to do with it education that gives more freedom to parents than our own does.

Now, it would seem, the Swedish government is considering the seemingly unthinkable: that high taxes do not help the economy and do not bring in enough money for the government to do what it is supposed to do (whatever that might be).

Sweden's centre-right government on Saturday announced income tax cuts of 10 billion kronor to stimulate the job market, its primary objective.

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and three other ministers in the four-party coalition said the reduction would mean most wage earners would have 200 to 250 kronor (20 to 25 euros, 29 to 36 dollars) more in take-home pay every month.

The proposal, to be presented to parliament on Monday as part of the 2010 budget bill, is the fourth leg of a tax cut programme introduced in January 2007 to stimulate employment.

As John Hinderaker of Power Line says:

It's an interesting comparison: Sweden experimented with the nanny state, learned that it was devastating to the economic and moral health of its people, and is moving back toward individualism. Here in the U.S., we had the world's most dynamic economy, and the lesson we took away from that--some of us, anyway--was that we were doing something wrong and needed to socialize everything. Curious.

More than curious. But it does not apply to Britain, sadly, as the country abandoned individualism some decades ago.