Le Danemark veut limiter l'accès de l'Etat-providence pour les étrangers

Les étrangers vivant au Danemark pourraient dans un avenir proche avoir à payer leur droit aux prestations sociales, éducation ou soins par exemple, à la différence des Danois. Cette proposition, faite fin mars par le premier ministre libéral danois Lars Løkke Rasmussen, est largement soutenu par une majorité des Danois.

[...] le plan pourrait signifier entre autres que les étrangers devraient avoir une assurance privée pour couvrir leurs soins de santé les quatre premières années de leur séjour. "Il sera plus dur d'attirer des employés de l'étranger si ces derniers doivent payer les impôts parmi les plus élevés au monde sans avoir droit aux mêmes services que leurs collègues", critique Thomas Christensen, conseiller de Dansk Industri, le patronat danois.

La proposition du premier ministre est soutenue par son parti libéral et par l'extrême-droite. Mais l'autre parti du gouvernement, le parti conservateur, est sceptique, à l'instar du patronat. Il craint que cette discrimination ne décourage les étrangers de venir travailler au Danemark et que cela cause du tort aux entreprises danoises qui auront du mal à recruter la main d'œuvre dont elle a besoin. A l'instar de la ministre de l'économie française, Christine Lagarde, qui a pris ses distances, jeudi soir, avec le ministre de l'intérieur, Claude Guéant, qui proposait une limitation de l'immigration du travail.

Le gouvernement voudrait aussi supprimer la pré-retraite et augmenter l'âge de la retraite. Les mesures restrictives concernant l'accès aux services sociaux pour les étrangers vont être discutées dans les mois à venir alors que des élections législatives doivent se tenir au plus tard en novembre prochain.

Read more at Le Monde

Tax Evasion

The leader of Denmark's main opposition party says she made a "big and sloppy error" by giving incorrect information to the Danish authorities about her husband, Stephen Kinnock.
Social Democrat leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt was speaking after the Danish tabloid newspaper BT had accused her husband of evading Danish taxes.
Mr Kinnock is the son of Lord Kinnock, the former UK Labour Party leader.
He works and pays tax in Switzerland on a reported income of £110,000.
Mrs Thorning-Schmidt admitted making a mistake over the amount of time her husband had spent in Denmark.
They have their family home in the Danish capital Copenhagen, even though Mr Kinnock works in Switzerland.

Mrs Thorning-Schmidt, who has campaigned for higher taxes for high earners, insists that her husband has resided in Denmark for only 33 weekends per year.
Therefore, she argues, he does not have to pay taxes in Denmark.
But when the couple applied for permission for Mr Kinnock to buy half of their shared home, Mrs Thorning-Schmidt wrote to the authorities that her husband spent "every weekend of the year from Friday through to Monday" in Denmark.
As a non-resident and UK citizen Mr Kinnock would not normally be allowed to buy a property in Denmark.

More at BBC

Denmark surpasses Sweden for world's highest tax burden

When it comes to choosing a place to live abroad, we all know the Scandinavian countries have it made. The standard of living is high, upper education is subsidized and everyone seems to have a job and a nice living situation. But all of this comes at a price; it's called taxes.

Sweden has long been known for its high taxes, the highest in the world in fact. But Denmark recently beat out it's northern neighbor for first place according to Danish newspaper Dagbladet Børsen (a daily business and finance paper). Based on a figure giving by tax authorities in both countries, the Danes have the highest tax burden in the world at 48.4%, compared to the 47.8% that Swedes pay. As an interesting side note, Swedish and Danish salaries are paid in krona and krone; both countries still use their own currencies instead of the euro.

Although the percentages for taxes may seem high for those of us that don't live in more socialized countries, the Scandinavians certainly aren't feeling an economic burden; the standards of living in these countries is quite high. In the most recent United Nations Human Development Index, Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden were all ranked in the top 15. Add to that government structures that provide for universal health care and paying near 50% for taxes seems to make a little more sense. Health care, Volvos, vikings, IKEA and moose; who wouldn't want to live there?

Source: gadling.com