Why everybody’s tax return is publicly available in Norway
Ever wanted to know how much your co-workers and neighbours make in a year?
That information is readily available, so long as you live in Norway.
People enjoying the summer at central station street in Oslo, Norway iStock
Every year the Norwegian tax office releases every resident's tax return.
For anybody curious as to how much anyone else makes, all they have to do is search for it on their website.
Public disclosure of wealth is a point of pride in Norway, where for centuries tax assessments were nailed on town hall walls.
"Free access to information has been a fundamental right in Norway's open and democratic society for many years," the tax office's Director General Nina Schanke Funnemark told nine.com.au.
"Information about individual income, wealth and tax has been available to the general population since the 19th century."
Curious people are limited to looking up 500 people or businesses every month, though they have to log in to do so.
That wasn’t always the case. Until 2014, anybody could search anybody else’s tax return in complete anonymity.
As a consequence, the day when tax returns were posted made the tax office one of the most popular websites in Norway.
Norway prides itself on making its tax records public. iStock
But concerns were raised about the safety of those whose wealth was exposed.
If anybody could secretly discover how much money somebody had, it could make them a target for burglars or extortionists.
Since then, anonymity was removed from searches. If you want to find out how much money someone earns, they can find out they looked you up.
When that reform was introduced in 2014, searches dropped by 90 per cent.
"When you look someone up, that is logged to a search log which is visible to the person whose tax record you viewed," Funnemark said.
"Similarly, you can see a list of everyone who has accessed your tax records."
Even high-profile Norwegians cannot keep their incomes a secret. Getty
Norway's public disclosure laws are broad, but it is part of a tradition that is common across Scandinavia.
In Finland, all residents who made more than 150,000 euros a year have their income information made public.
That data can be accessed without a login, allowing people to search anonymously.
The day those records are released every year is colloquially known in Finland as "national envy day".
In Sweden, tax returns are publicly available but not especially easy to access.
There's no website where you can search for names.
Instead you have to call or email the Swedish Tax Agency and ask directly for a specific name. They will then send you the information in the mail.
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