Reduced value-added tax on admission to dance performances

Marie Olsson (S)

Madam Speaker! May I? Perhaps one should say on a day like this, when we are to speak about the Committee on Taxation's report 25, which concerns lowering the value-added tax, the VAT, on catering services from 25 to 6 percent.

I want to begin by saying that we Social Democrats support the committee's proposal in the report.

Once again, we stand here in the chamber debating something that we all actually agree on. I believe, however, that it is important for the voters to know where we different parties stand on the issue and why we have concluded that we want to lower the dansband VAT.

Dansband is a group of musicians who play popular music so that people have the opportunity to dance to the music. Dancing to dansband has been and still is a folk movement and a part of the Swedish cultural heritage.

In Dalarna, where I come from, there is a strong tradition of dancing to dansband music. The largest arrangement for dancing to dansband, Dansbandsveckan, takes place in Malung-Sälens municipality in Dalarna. Now, this very proposal regarding reduced VAT will not affect the ticket prices for Dansbandsveckan, and I want to be clear about that. I have seen that several parties have been out waving it around regarding just Dansbandsveckan. Dansbandsveckan, however, is run by two associations, and associations are exempt from VAT. For just Dansbandsveckan, there will therefore be no difference in the ticket prices. On the other hand, it will become cheaper for other dances.

After having worked myself in Malung-Sälen municipality during several Dansbandsveckor, I can truly attest to what a folk festival this is for all ages. Masses of people are engaged in the great popular movement that dancing to dansband constitutes. It is people of all ages who listen to music, socialize, and dance together. Dancing to dansband is both culture and movement at the same time. In that way, we can say that it contributes to public health.

The dansband culture is primarily a Swedish phenomenon, even though it also exists in other Nordic countries. One can say that it has developed in Sweden and then spread to the rest of the Nordic region. It is also more than just notes and beats. It is, as said, a part of our living cultural heritage, a meeting place across generations and a source of joy, community, and movement throughout the entire country – from folk parks and village halls to city scenes, including here in Stockholm.

Still, the dansband culture has until now been treated differently than other music and culture, regardless of which government has been in power. This has been ongoing since the mid-90s. We Social Democrats stated that we wanted to lower the dansband VAT before the government presented its proposal. It is good that we are now all in agreement that dancing to dansband should be treated fairly in relation to other culture and sports.

It is not reasonable that you can listen to, for example, Larz-Kristerz from Älvdalen while sitting, as an audience member, and then pay 6 percent VAT, but that it becomes 25 percent VAT if you dance. If you dance to recorded music, it is also 6 percent VAT, because then it is counted as sport and exercise. But if you dance to live music, it is suddenly neither sport and exercise nor culture, but then it becomes 25 percent VAT. This is also not reasonable.

Those we should most thank for this reduction now becoming a reality after many years of struggle are actually the dansbands themselves. For many years, they have pushed that this injustice should be removed. They have waged a persistent struggle that has now succeeded. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, the dansbands, for not giving up the fight for a more just VAT and also congratulate you on now actually having succeeded.

Madam Speaker! The higher VAT on dansband events has hit organizers, musicians, and the audience hard. It becomes more expensive to organize, harder to tour, and less accessible for those who want to participate. It is neither reasonable nor fair.

For us Social Democrats, the reduction of the dance band VAT is not merely a cost, but it is actually also an investment. It is an investment in a living countryside, in public health, and in culture that unites rather than excludes. When people meet on the dance floor, cohesion, security, and quality of life are created. These are values that cannot be measured solely in kronor and öre and which mean enormously much for our society. This applies especially in these times when many forces devote themselves more to polarization than to cohesion.

Equal conditions for different forms of music and culture is also a matter of respect. Dansband music should not be seen as less worthy than other genres. It carries professionalism, long experience, and a strong commitment, often with long tours and hard work behind every performance. By lowering the dansband VAT, we give dansband culture the opportunity to continue to flourish, to reach new listeners, and to live on for future generations. We make it easier for more people to participate.

We Social Democrats are often accused here in the chamber and on social media by the Tidö government of wanting to raise all taxes or introduce new taxes. Often, these are pure falsehoods. The latest was that we supposedly want to introduce a property tax, which the Moderates have put out in social media, which is a pure falsehood.

On the other hand, we Social Democrats stand up for the fact that a review of the tax system is needed, including the VAT, because the tax system in its current state is a patchwork – a patchwork completely without a pattern. It is an incomprehensible system, which is not consistent and which creates regulatory complexity and large administrative costs, especially for the companies. The dance band VAT is an example of that the system is not consistent.

Madam Speaker! As we are now debating music and dansband music, I would like to take the opportunity to warn against the closure of rehearsal rooms taking place across the country – because the Tidöregeringen has cut state grants to study associations by 30 percent in recent years. This has so far led to 300 closed rehearsal rooms and 8,000 fewer performances. These are rehearsal rooms also for dansbands, and these are performances also for dansbands.

Studieförbunden have been an immensely important factor for many musicians, including dance bands, to have opportunities to practice, improve, and also get out and perform for an audience – also an audience that dances. A significantly better and more active cultural policy was needed than the one the Tidöregeringen delivers, that is, a policy where we safeguard something of the most Swedish we have, namely folk education. It is not enough to lower the dance band VAT to save the dance band culture and the music life in Sweden.

Madam Speaker! When it comes to the dance band VAT, it is, as I said, about justice and uniformity for us Social Democrats. We believe that dancing to dance band music should be treated in the same way as other cultural activities and sports activities. It should not matter whether you sit down and listen to music or whether you dance to the music. We want to benefit the entire cultural life. That is why we stand up for a cultural policy and a tax policy that looks at the whole; where joy, community, and culture are taxed fairly.

Now we are lowering the dance band VAT, and we do it for the dance, for the music, for the people, for the dance bands, and for a richer cultural life throughout the country.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Eric Westroth (SD)

Madam Speaker, members of the House, and all the dancing Swedes at home! Today, or rather from and onwards July 1, 2026, we are doing something truly wonderful together. We are lowering the VAT on dance events from 25 to 6 percent. Finally, dance bands and their audience will receive the same respectful treatment as the theater, the opera, and the seated concerts. It is not just a matter of a tax change, but a step in the right direction – and a groovy one at that!

Mr. Speaker, consider this: Tickets to cultural events such as theater and concerts were completely exempt from VAT before 1997, while at the same time, tickets to the music on the dance floor were also subject to full VAT. When the Social Democratic government introduced a lower cultural VAT of 6 percent on January 1, 1997, as an adaptation to the EU's regulations, or EC as it was called then, it failed, when it had the chance, to also allow dance band events to benefit from the lower so-called cultural VAT.

We have, therefore, for a long time and with many different governments, had a strange demarcation. If you sit still and listen to a ballad, it was completely VAT-free before 1997 and thereafter only 6 percent VAT. But should you get the idea to stand up, take your partner by the hand and start dancing a polka, then suddenly it becomes full VAT. It is a bit like saying that cuddly songs you can listen to with a tax discount, but if you move your feet in rhythm, it becomes a penalty tax!

Madam Speaker! The dansband industry has been under severe pressure throughout the entire 2000s. The number of folk parks and dance venues has steadily decreased since the 80s, and the pandemic became a fatal blow for the entire industry with restrictions and requests for reduced social contact.

And even if one was able to receive the general support packages that were developed for the business sector during the pandemic, the support was poorly adapted for the type of activity that dance bands operate under. Many dance venues had to close down or go bankrupt, and dance bands had to operate on a shoestring budget.

But even if these times are over, the industry still suffers from the aftermath. Organizers who applied for tax deferrals must now pay back. Dance bands that were forced to sell stage equipment and tour buses have had to reinvest if they want to continue their operations. With this grim history, the unfair dance band VAT has not been of any help for an industry in a reconstruction phase.

But now we finally say thank you and goodbye to that unreasonableness. And it is no coincidence that it is precisely during this mandate period that a change comes, as it is only now that the Sverigedemokraterna have gained a real influence on the government's policy.

Even though a number of members from many different parties have submitted individual motions regarding the removal of the dansband VAT, it is primarily the Sverigedemokraterna who have driven this issue in modern times. The Socialdemokraterna changed their minds on July 9 last year and also wanted to remove the dansband VAT, but that occurred more than 50 days after the government had submitted a referral to the Council of Legislation on the same matter. We naturally also welcome their about-face – or "svängom" as we say in dansband circles – but it certainly would have been more "dansant" if the Socialdemokraterna themselves had invited the other parties in their government base during all their years in power. Or was one afraid of getting "nobben", perhaps from their government partners or from the EU?

Even though Dansbandsveckan is not affected by this VAT reduction, the organizers are all the more pleased with the removal of the malus tax on motorhomes by the Tidö government, together with the Sverigedemokraterna, as many of the guests live in motorhomes during the entire week.

After the proposal has been out for a referral process, a majority of the referral bodies have been positive or have had no objections to the proposal. Someone has, however, objected that a dance event does not resemble a cultural event. But what is Swedish folk culture if not precisely dance? It is the Vikings or Sven-Ingvars who sing Leende guldbruna ögon while the couples glide around in a slow bugg. It is Thorleifs who play Gråt inga tårar, and suddenly the cheeks are wiped against a shoulder in a slowfox. It is Lasse Stefanz who takes us to De sista ljuva åren and who reminds us that life is too short not to dance. And it is Black Jack who sings Inget stoppar oss nu – a song that from this summer onwards will feel extra true both on the dance floor and in the state budget.

This reform is an acknowledgment that dance is culture in the truest sense. And it is not just a matter of culture, it is a matter of public health, community, and joy that makes the heart beat in time with the music.

In the countryside, in folk parks, in village halls and even at the city's dance halls, an important part of the Swedish cultural heritage lives. There, young and old meet IRL, that is, for real. There, teenagers learn to lead and follow, and there weddings are celebrated with live music but also anniversaries and ordinary Friday nights.

Madam Speaker! We can hope that the lower VAT rate leads to both better opportunities for profitability and a lower entry price. It will mean that significantly more people will come to the dance venues, better profitability and more gigs for the bands and more life throughout the country.

Let's be honest! It has not only economic but also symbolic significance. We say that dance band music no longer has to stay in the culture's closet with rock on. It can finally come out onto the dance floor together with all other culture. Step by step and beat by beat, we are approaching a more just and danceable culture.

Madam Speaker! I would like to take the opportunity to extend a special thanks to all the dansbands that have stubbornly kept the flame alive through the years – despite the dwindling number of dance halls, despite the pandemic, despite high fees and costs, despite long bus journeys, and despite that you have sometimes been somewhat contemptuously called merely commercial entertainment. You are so much more. You are the soundtrack to thousands of Swedish love stories. You are the common thread from the folk parks' heyday in the 50s and the dansbands' golden age in the 70s to today's dance floors and dance palaces. Thank you for never stopping playing, even when the VAT played out of tune and off-beat!

Dear friends! From this summer onwards, it will become cheaper to go out and dance, cheaper to swing the fluffy ones in a bugg, cheaper to take someone in your arms for a foxtrot, and cheaper to feel the music and the jazz bug in your body. Is it not worth celebrating? When the VAT drops, the atmosphere rises. And when the price becomes lower, the dance floor becomes more crowded. Sweden shall be a country where one does not just talk about culture. One dances it too.

Madam Speaker! Although I have probably exceeded my speaking time: May I be allowed to, with emphasis, demand a large and resounding approval of the proposal in the report in its entirety?

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Adam Reuterskiöld (M)

Madam Speaker! I would first like to sing a line of text that symbolizes what we are discussing today.

Two dark eyes and the smile you gave me

It is a few words from one of Sweden's most beloved dansband classics. It is a simple line of text that almost all Swedes recognize and which across our country has been sung in folk parks, at weddings, at log dances and during summer evenings.

The quality of the performance can perhaps be discussed, but the important question is: What is culture, really? Is culture only that which we see in the large institutions in our major cities? Is culture only that which receives fine reviews in the culture pages? Or is culture also people's community, traditions, and the joy of creation?

I mean that culture can be almost anything. Culture can be opera in Stockholm, but it can also be dansband in Degerfors. Culture can be modern art in a gallery, but culture can also be a performance one evening in a folk park in Småland. Culture can take place on our national stages, but culture can also take place in the rehearsal room, in the community center, at the car meet, at the jazz club, or at the local music festival.

The public sector should not tell people which culture is fine enough to be counted. People decide for themselves what matters to them.

Madam Speaker! That is why the Moderates welcome a reduced VAT on admission to dance events. Why should concerts be taxed lower than dance? Why should some cultural expressions be favored while others are penalized by taxation? When people voluntarily gather for music, dance, and community, it is culture.

The Moderates believe in people's own strength. We believe in civil society, the entrepreneurs, and the private initiatives. Much of Swedish cultural life is sustained by people who take risks, run businesses, sell tickets, and create meeting places without the large public grants. It can be the small theater association. It can be the concert organizer. It can also be the dance band organizer in the folk park. More rules were not needed. Better conditions were needed. That is the best way to promote culture. Project support or grant applications should not be the important thing.

When taxes are lowered, the organizers get greater opportunities to invest, hire, and develop their operations. Ticket prices can be kept down. More people can afford to participate. And cultural workers get the opportunity to live off their work. It creates a freer cultural life that is less dependent on political decisions and more dependent on people's own choices.

Madam Speaker! Culture becomes strongest when it grows from below, when people themselves choose to gather around the music, the dance, the art, and the community. The task of politics is not to govern taste. The task of politics is to create freedom. Therefore, reduced VAT on dance events, nightclubs, and dance festivals is a step in the right direction – for a freer cultural life and for more meeting places throughout Sweden.

For us Moderates, this is a step in a broader policy that benefits both working people and the entire business sector. We work to lower the cost burden for companies and reduce red tape. We have abolished the hotel permit, the dance permit, the food requirement, and the requirement for indoor tables to have an outdoor seating area. There have been so many rules that we are now removing, which will make life a bit freer and a bit better. All of this contributes to giving business owners the freedom to grow and to people having more left in their pockets.

Madam Speaker! I therefore move for the approval of the proposal in the report.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Ilona Szatmári Waldau (V)

Madam Speaker!

"Look into my eyes, there you can mirror yourself and meet yourself, my eyes and I in you while the distances vanish"

Dance holds the possibility to see, to remember, to be reminded, which is one of culture's tasks. Such a total experience is one gets many times in dance. For who can sit still when a really good dansband plays a song one just wants to dance to? The legs, the arms, the body want, they want to move to the rhythm and immerse themselves in the music. The code emerges between us, signs are formed, the rhythm and the steps weave everything together. We, you and I, we dance. I seek you and you notify me and are always present just as I, dancing with me. We wait, feel each other, communicate in the dance.

In this way, many who enjoy dancing to dansband music experience the dance between two people. It is inconceivable to me that one can fail to perceive this as culture.

Madam Speaker! These were not my words. It was the Left Party's former Member of Parliament Charlotta L Bjälkebring who wrote them in a motion in the year 2000. It has been almost 26 years since she expressed herself so poetically in her and the Riksdag's very first motion to lower the dance band VAT. She stated that it costs more to move to music by dancing than by sitting down, standing, or jumping as an audience.

She asked: "Why should a form of culture that leads to increased exercise and well-being cost more – shouldn't it cost less? Don't we all win from good public health work?"

To Charlotta L Bjälkebring and all other members of the Riksdag from Vänsterpartiet who motioned for a reduced VAT on dance performances without getting it through, I want to say: Suddenly it happens! Thank you for doing the groundwork and leading the way!

As with so many other issues we in Vänsterpartiet have championed, we finally receive recognition, even if it took 26 years. Regarding the ban on corporal punishment in schools, it took only 13 years from our motion to the decision, which is fast compared to equal pay for equal work, which became Swedish law nearly 40 years after we motioned for it. Lower VAT on daycare placements may not be on the same level as banning corporal punishment in schools or ensuring that women and men shall have equal pay for equal work, but it is still gratifying that we are now making this decision.

Madam Speaker! I vote in favor of the proposal in the report.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Catarina Deremar (C)

Madam Speaker! Imagine that I thought it was only in the Cultural Affairs Committee that there was singing in the chamber! Even the Taxation Committee can – how lovely!

Madam Speaker! We are debating a report concerning a seemingly small but fundamentally important issue: the value-added tax on dance performances. The proposal is simple: to lower the VAT from 25 percent to 6 percent. The Centre Party welcomes and supports this proposal wholeheartedly. It is a long-awaited and obvious reform that corrects an unreasonable and illogical special treatment of a popular part of our cultural life.

Madam Speaker! The primary purpose of tax policy is to finance our common welfare. But taxes must also be fair, predictable, and as simple as possible. They should stimulate entrepreneurship and work, not hinder it.

Today's system, where a concert, a theater performance, or a circus visit has 6 percent in VAT while a dance band evening in a public park or a village hall is taxed at 25 percent, is neither logical nor fair. It is a punishment of a cultural form that brings people together, creates community, and gives life to rural areas throughout our country.

Why should it be more expensive for an organizer to host a dance event than a concert? Why should the audience pay more to dance to the music instead of just listening? This dividing line has lacked a sensible justification and has, in practice, functioned as a penalty tax on an important part of Swedish association and cultural life.

Madam Speaker! The Centre Party generally advocates for a simpler tax system with fewer exceptions. We have long called for a broad and cross-bloc tax reform that creates long-term and predictable rules of the game for both private individuals and companies.

From that perspective, one can object to different VAT rates. But today's decision is not about creating a new exemption. It is about abolishing an illogical special treatment and creating uniformity within the cultural sector. As several previous speakers have said, dance is truly culture. Gathering to practice it together with others to live music is a social and cultural act, to be a bit fancy. It should, of course, be taxed on the same terms as other cultural experiences.

Lowering the VAT will provide a much-needed breathing space for the non-profit organizations and small business owners who organize these events with great commitment. It is the organizers who struggle with small margins and who are absolutely crucial for the local entertainment and cultural offerings, not least in the countryside. Lower costs make it possible to organize more events, hire more musicians and technicians, and ultimately offer more people the opportunity to meet. It strengthens the local economy and social cohesion.

Madam Speaker! As the cultural policy spokesperson for the Center Party, I cannot help but see this issue in a larger context. Several have touched upon what this means for, not least, popular education. We in the Center Party have shown in our budget motion that we prioritize popular education. Dance is a part of the study associations' activities. We want to restore and strengthen the appropriations to the study associations. These are funds that the current government has cut. Our proposal for reduced VAT on dance is part of a holistic view. We must safeguard and strengthen the entire cultural value chain, from the classroom to the dance floor.

Madam Speaker! Lowering the VAT on dance events is a small reform, but it is no less important for that. It is an investment in joy, community, and vibrant local communities. It is a policy that sees the value in what unites us, from the city to the countryside. It is a policy that trusts the voluntary forces and the small business owners who build our country from the bottom up.

It is with pleasure that I today move for the approval of the committee's proposal. This is a matter that was almost the first I encountered when I started in the Culture Committee in the autumn of 2021. Many have testified that this is something that has been discussed for a very long time. It is strange that it has taken so long. But now the proposal is here, and we shall rejoice in that. It can contribute to a Sweden where the whole country lives and where culture is a natural and accessible part of everyone's everyday life.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Cecilia Engström (KD)

Madam Speaker! For me as a Christian Democrat, this is a day of joy. I say as a well-known old radio personality: Finally! For many years, different governments have done nothing about this injustice, but with this government, it is happening.

Lowering the VAT on admission to dance venues from 25 to 6 percent has been one of my priority issues – not because it in itself changes every person's everyday life overnight, but because it is a symbolically important issue that ties together many areas that mean a lot to us Christian Democrats.

The value-added tax is, as we know, largely harmonized within the EU. The basis is clear: a uniform tax with the standard tax rate of 25 percent shall be the starting point. It is important for stability and predictability and as a secure source of revenue for the state.

At the same time, there are good reasons to make exceptions. We have reduced VAT for cultural events. Concerts, theater, opera, and other performing arts forms are already covered by the lower VAT of 6 percent. Against that background, it appears inconsistent that just dance events have been taxed at 25 percent. Dance is not a peripheral element but a living and important part of our cultural life. Dance unites people across generations, strengthens the community, and contributes to a rich and inclusive society.

Madam Speaker! This is also about public health. Dancing gets people moving. It raises the pulse and creates added value and well-being. We often speak about the importance of preventive work for health. Here we have an activity that truly combines exercise, joy, and social community in a natural way.

It is also about community and cohesion, not least in the countryside. In many smaller towns, the dance events are among the most important occasions for people to meet. It creates vitality in regions where there may not be many meeting places and where they risk disappearing.

Furthermore, it is about entrepreneurship. Every dansband is, in practice, its own small business. In addition to that, there are all the organizers, sound technicians, catering services, and voluntary associations that make the activity possible. For many small actors, such changes actually play a very big role. They have persistently raised the issue of VAT, and now we can finally deliver.

To now lower the VAT to 6 percent therefore does not just mean a tax adjustment. It is a recognition of the importance of dance. It creates more equal conditions within the cultural field and provides better conditions for organizers, not least within the non-profit association life and in smaller localities.

Madam Speaker! I share the principled position that deviations from the standard tax rate should be made with caution. There are always risks of boundary issues and distortion of competition. But in this case, the deviation is well-justified. It is about correcting an imbalance that has long existed in the system.

For the Christian Democrats, culture is a fundamental part of society. It does not only contribute to experiences and community. It also provides meaning and cohesion, and it creates joy. Therefore, it is reasonable that the tax system supports and does not counteract this type of activity. Yes to reduced VAT for dance bands! I move for approval of the committee's proposal in the report.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Annika Hirvonen (MP)

Madam Speaker! It is truly a day of joy here in the chamber of the Riksdag when we make it possible for more to afford to dance more.

We have long had 6 percent VAT on cultural events but 25 percent on cultural events where one dances. It is completely unreasonable. That we agree on. It does not make sense, and it is also not particularly wise if we, for example, look at our public health policy goals.

It is, after all, few things that are as healthy as dancing. When we dance, we get exercise. We have social community and meet people across both generational boundaries and other boundaries that may exist in society. In dance, movement, joy, music, and people are united.

We in Miljöpartiet want to promote dance in Sweden. Reduced VAT on admission to dance events is part of that. We in Miljöpartiet also want to promote dance by restoring the support to study associations and furthermore increasing them so that more bands have a venue to rehearse in and so that more people who dream of playing on a dance band stage can rehearse the songs.

It is about us getting more and better premises for dance events so that the seniors in Linköping will no longer have to be referred to poorly ventilated premises or concrete floors that ruin both hips and knees.

Madam Speaker! Culture's infrastructure is about all of this. It is about having a culture school where children can discover their aptitude for playing an instrument or moving to music. It is about having access to premises for both amateur cultural practice and professional practice, everything from large stages to the folk park's dance floors. It is about education and time, time for what is important.

Another issue concerning the dance on the tax committee's area is fitness care. It is possible to receive fitness care subsidies for dancing, but only in courses and not at dance evenings. It could become our next joint project to reach an agreement on. As a dancer, I would still like to say that it is at its healthiest when we meet at the social dance evenings.

Even if the course may contribute to us not stepping on each other's toes as often, and perhaps reduces potential costs for emergency visits, it is still during the social dance evenings that the very greatest health benefits of dancing are found.

With these words, I wish to vote in favor of the proposal in the Committee on Taxation's report 25 and thank you for an unusually united and pleasant chamber debate.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Anders Ekegren (L)

Madam Speaker! Today we shall discuss in the chamber one of the strangest differences between different cultural expressions. The standard tax rate regarding VAT is 25 percent, but when it comes to culture, the state, in order to favor cultural life, has had a tax rate of 6 percent.

The vast majority of cultural forms such as theater performances, circuses, amusement parks, ballet performances and concerts have had a tax rate of 6 percent. Even certain sporting activities involving dance are taxed in this way.

When dance is considered a sporting activity such as jazz dance or is practiced by any of the Swedish Sports Confederation's member federations, the VAT rate is 6 percent, but this is not the case when it concerns dance events. There, the VAT rate is 25 percent.

Does it depend on the state believing that it is possible to earn money from dance? When the state has difficulty deciding whether a cultural form is culture or business, for example film and dance bands, it becomes difficult to classify, and then it usually becomes the higher VAT.

Or is it simply the case that the state makes a distinction between what is considered high culture and the more popular dansband culture with a strong position in the countryside?

By lowering the VAT on dance events, the tax on different types of culture is equalized, and the unreasonable difference between standing and seated audiences ceases. There is a boundary-setting issue where concerts with a seated audience have had 6 percent VAT while the same band and the same songs with a dancing audience are taxed at 25 percent. This clearly demonstrates the unreasonableness.

Through the Riksdag's decision, this difference is being abolished in order to equate dance band culture with other Swedish cultural life. Through the proposal, we are now changing these absurdities. The VAT will be 6 percent on dance band events from and including July 1, 2026 – an absurdity that should have been corrected by previous governments.

Madam Speaker! It is worth noting that the government is proceeding with the bill despite the Council on Legislation's objections. The Council on Legislation considers the question to be whether a temporary position can be considered such a similar event as is meant in the EU's VAT Directive.

The Council on Legislation thinks that a deeper EU law analysis should be carried out. Even though I belong to those who are positively disposed towards the EU, I find it very difficult to see that the EU has anything to contribute in this issue. Does one even know what dansband is? It is quite a Nordic phenomenon.

Despite the Council for Legislation's objections, no follow-up motions have been submitted. A unanimous Committee on Taxation supported the government's bill, and everything indicates that a unanimous chamber will support the bill on Wednesday. Hardly anyone perceives that the rule of law is threatened because the Riksdag is not following the Council for Legislation in this matter.

That we are to debate the issue in the chamber today and make a decision on Wednesday is noted by Dansbandssverige. For example, the newspaper Dansbandsnytt has a large headline article about today's debate and Wednesday's decision.

I actually asked AI while I was sitting here, and even AI has noticed that the Committee on Taxation is discussing the dansband VAT today. So even AI has become involved in changing the dansband VAT. Some things go fast. In half an hour, it will probably say that a pleasant debate was held about the dansband VAT. When the decision is made in the Chamber, all dansband fans can rejoice.

Madam Speaker! I vote in favor of the proposal in the committee's report.

(Applause)

The deliberation was hereby concluded.

(A decision was to be taken on 20 May.)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)