Response to interpellation 2023/24:391 on layoffs within the Swedish Tax Agency
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
I believe that Sweden is in a state of economic emergency and that the state administration must contribute to the financing through general savings 1. M argues that the population registration has been prioritized with budget reinforcements and that Skatteverket has more resources this year than last year 1 2. M emphasizes that no general layoffs are occurring, but that temporary employment has been terminated and work is being done on streamlining 2. M wants to strengthen Skatteverket by increasing the appropriations by 100 million kronor during 2024 to strengthen the crime-fighting work 3. S agrees with the description of the problem that one must keep track of who lives and stays in the country 4.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Finansministern Elisabeth Svantesson (M)
Madam Speaker! Sofie Eriksson has asked me if I have received any analysis of how the government's savings at the Swedish Tax Agency affect the work against fraud in the population register and how I intend to ensure that the work does not stall due to cuts.
Sweden is in a serious economic situation. Inflation is still too high and is putting heavy pressure on households, welfare, and authorities. The government has therefore placed a restrained budget before the Riksdag. At the same time, we need to support households and welfare that are struggling and make investments that solve Sweden's societal problems. This requires financing, and it is reasonable that the state administration also participates and contributes to the financing. Therefore, a general saving in the state administration is carried out in the budget bill for 2024.
To crack organized crime, the criminal economy must be strangled. A central part of this is to stop welfare fraud, and correct population registration is a key in that work. The Government has since taking office prioritized reinforcements to the population registration activities. It has been about budget reinforcements, better tools, and new legislation.
The Swedish Tax Agency has significantly scaled up the number of control visits in the population register. The objective is to carry out approximately 100 control visits every week starting from November 2023. The Government has an ongoing dialogue with the Swedish Tax Agency regarding the conditions for the operations, and the Swedish Tax Agency has stated in that the agency continues to prioritize increasing the residency controls within the population register and strengthening the work to counter crime.
Sofie Eriksson (S)
Madam Speaker! Elisabeth Svantesson and I are sharing the rostrum tonight – it is very exciting!
There must be order and clarity regarding who lives in Sweden. We must have control over where people live when we plan our societies, but it also has to do with our welfare system.
In this context, it should be remembered that Sweden has one of the most reliable population registration systems in the world, but even here there are problems. It occurs that people register at the wrong place to access payments they are not entitled to. Criminals get away with it and use incorrect population registration to commit crimes. This is, of course, completely unacceptable; we agree on that description of the problem.
That was also why the Social Democratic-led government implemented a change of course to strengthen the control and improve the quality of the population registration. A long series of measures were put in place. Skatteverket received increased funding and more tools to be able to detect, investigate, and rectify errors in the population registration. They were given the opportunity to de-register false identities and conduct home visits to verify a person's residence. The system of coordination numbers was significantly strengthened, and several hundred thousand incorrect coordination numbers were removed. We reintroduced the crime of population registration fraud, which the Alliance government had abolished.
We agree that it is important to strengthen the population registration. That is why I became a little worried when the government's savings on the agencies began to affect the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket). We have read in the newspapers that many of those who are now being laid off have worked with precisely population registration. The government's savings on the agencies mean that the state presence is decreasing in many places in Sweden. In Grängesberg, where I live, Filmarkivet has been closed, and we have lost our last state jobs. The cuts at Skatteverket affect towns such as Hudiksvall, Sollefteå, Karlstad, Gävle, Falun, Halmstad, Helsingborg, Lycksele, and Sundsvall.
Can the Minister for Finance assure us that these cuts will not affect the work of strengthening the population registration? How does the Minister for Finance view the centralization of state agencies? How does it risk affecting trust in, for example, the Swedish Tax Agency?
Peder Björk (S)
Madam Speaker! During the previous parliamentary term, there was a lot of discussion regarding precisely population registration, and with good reason because we could all see that there were problems with the population registration. People were being treated poorly in the system we had. That was why the Social Democratic government, as it were, took the initiative for a long series of measures to improve the population registration.
During the previous parliamentary term, there was also a high tone, primarily from the Sverigedemokrater and Moderater. In the debate, calls were made for a national census. In the Riksdag, 14 interpellations and 12 written questions were submitted, predominantly by Sverigedemokrater and Moderater, regarding that a large national census should be carried out. In the Moderaternas and Sverigedemokraternas budget proposals during the previous parliamentary term, it stated that a large national census should be carried out. Furthermore, it was the case that several leading representatives for Sverigedemokraterna and Moderaterna said that they would go out and knock on every door around the country to ensure where people live in a large national census.
Madam Speaker! After the election, it can be read in the Tidö Agreement that the coalition parties agree to prepare a large national census. Therefore, I was somewhat surprised when the answer to Sofie Eriksson's interpellation did not mention by a single syllable that the government intends to carry out a large national census.
My question to the Minister for Finance is: Has the government abandoned the plan for a large national census?
Finansministern Elisabeth Svantesson (M)
Madam Speaker! Let me begin by stating that Sweden is in a state of emergency in many ways. We have not been in such a situation for an incredibly long time, if we have even been in such a situation in modern times. It is a situation where we are engaged in a war in our immediate vicinity and have an elevated terror threat level. It is a situation where gangs are spreading out and deepening their infiltration and their system-threatening activities and where children murder children. At the same time, we have had a tough economic situation.
When it comes to violence, the government is determined to reverse the development, and if one is to break the cycle, one must choke the criminal economy. It is the money that feeds the gangs and that motivates and provides incentives to, for example, recruit young boys and sometimes girls to commit heinous crimes. The government is determined to go after the money, and therefore we are working on a broad front. An important part and an important authority in this work is, of course, Skatteverket, and Skatteverket does and has for a long time made many important efforts to combat this crime. We have also changed legislation and provided better tools, which facilitates for Skatteverket to do its job and focus on what is urgent.
When it comes to the population registration, a ladder was included in the budget for 2023 which means that during the mandate period, almost half a billion will be spent on improving just the population registration, but it seems that some members have not noticed this. If you sit in the Committee on Taxation, you probably have a pretty good grasp of the fact that Skatteverket received a mandate and has returned, and by the summer we are to have as good a picture as we possibly can of who is in Sweden.
I have never said that one should knock on every door, but doors must be knocked on where the risk is high. It is normalizing and important. Above all, we must have much more reliable registers and control data, but doors must also be knocked on. It is a major undertaking that Skatteverket is carrying out now. They estimate making approximately 100 controls per week, compared to 300 during the entirety of 2021. It is therefore an important part.
So, regarding the question about resources for the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket). No general layoffs are occurring at Skatteverket, but temporary employment has been discontinued; it is important to emphasize that. One can work with streamlining and reorganization. I know it is difficult for some Social Democrats to see that one can sometimes reprioritize. I remember when Magdalena Andersson, before the 2014 election, said that one could cut 10 billion from the agencies, but then not much of that happened. But sometimes one must make savings. We are streamlining in the government administration, and it can be tough and difficult. But do not forget that Skatteverket has more resources this year than it had last year. Furthermore, we have targeted efforts toward the areas that are so enormously important.
Madam Speaker! From our dialogue with the Swedish Tax Agency, it is clear that the controls are being scaled up further. There is a high level of ambition both in politics and among the employees at the Swedish Tax Agency. They want to work on continuing to improve the population registration and have control over who is in the country so that we get the picture we need - and I believe that the Social Democrats also want us to have it.
Sofie Eriksson (S)
Madam Speaker! There were some of us who heard the chest tones from the Moderates and the Sweden Democrats during the previous parliamentary term, who in different ways totally condemned the work that the Social Democratic-led government did in the area of population registration to increase the control and quality of our registers. What we did was to give the Swedish Tax Agency the opportunity to carry out the inspection visits they are now conducting. It was we who reintroduced the population registration offense, because it no longer existed since the Alliance government had abolished it. We increased the appropriations to the Swedish Tax Agency and gave the agency new tools so that these large problems could be managed.
Still, we were told that it was completely insufficient. The only thing that would suffice was a snapshot, that is, a census. There were politicians from Sverigedemokraterna and Moderaterna who spoke about counting toothbrushes and knocking on every single door.
Now we are told that a situation analysis is to be made, but that the important thing is to improve the ongoing registers. It was this work that we Social Democrats initiated but were condemned for.
It is a bit about what kind of words we use about each other. What are the words that are used as weapons in a political debate to win elections? And what are those words worth after the election?
It is very good if it is the case that the savings being made now at Skatteverket do not affect the population registration work. But I submitted this interpellation because of a sincere concern that it would come at the expense of that. To end a probationary employment is to lay people off. Many of those who have these probationary employments have worked with precisely population registration. My concern remains.
I hope it is as the Minister for Finance says, that the work shall continue and be intensified. But I still want to convey that there is another aspect to this, which we have talked about earlier this evening, namely the trust in our authorities and in our systems. When one constantly equates efficiency with centralization, many people out there become damn disappointed and angry.
How can it be that savings always mean that the jobs are to remain in Stockholm but are removed somewhere else? I find that very difficult to understand, actually. I think it is about laziness, that one doesn't have the energy, that it is so damn tedious to sit and travel by train to the different fine cities that we have in our country.
It is interesting with this situational overview. Is it a census or not? When is it supposed to be finished? How many will get a knock on the door? One should also remember that just a few years ago a census was actually carried out, but that didn't work either, so we will have to see what the level of ambition looks like ahead of the next election.
Peder Björk (S)
Madam Speaker! I noted that the Minister for Finance, in his latest contribution here from the rostrum, chose not to use the word census. I think that stands for something.
No one would be happier than I if the government considered abandoning this idea of a census that would involve going out all over the country and knocking on every door to count how many people live there. All the experts who have looked at this are clear that this is an inefficient and very expensive way, and that it does not lead to what I perceive we here in the chamber agree on, namely that we must get the population registration in order.
Work was started during the previous mandate period, and we agree that it must continue to be prioritized and that the population registration in Sweden must be improved. But it is still the case that in the Tidö Agreement, during the previous mandate period and in the government's writings in the budget, a census is mentioned. The question remains: Has the government abandoned the idea of carrying out a census or do they intend to carry out a census?
Madam Speaker! If it is indeed the case that the Minister for Finance and the government have intended to abandon the idea of a referendum, one is still somewhat curious about what the other coalition partners in the Tidö Agreement think about it.
Finansministern Elisabeth Svantesson (M)
Madam Speaker! I will only say a few brief things; I said a lot in the previous contribution.
Sweden is in a state of emergency. Now we have the responsibility, and we take responsibility. I do not intend to blame anyone else, but we take the responsibility that we see that we need to take.
Yes, I have stood here in the chamber and spoken a lot about a census, because that is what this is about. It is very simple; it is two parts. One is: Who and who are in Sweden? We have not had and do not have a handle on that. We do not know how many people are located here. If the Social Democrats have a figure on this - you're welcome! The second part is: Is one in the right place, where one is supposed to be, or is one registered at another place, in another apartment or another house where one is not at all, or is one perhaps even abroad?
It is this type of situational overview that the Swedish Tax Agency is now actively working on. We are neither in the Gospel of Luke 2 or the census from 2,000 years ago, nor in the analogue census that was conducted in 1990; now we have completely different and digital tools. But the difference compared to 1990 is that Sweden is in a completely different situation. So many people have come here, and we do not know exactly who is here right now. Therefore, the Swedish Tax Agency is working together with the Swedish Migration Agency, the police, and others to find out exactly that. It does not matter to me, Madam Speaker, if the Social Democrats mock this. The most important thing for me is that it is carried out.
We are also strengthening the Swedish Tax Agency so that they can work with these tasks - the census, population registration and other parts. The year that has started now, 2024, means that the Swedish Tax Agency's appropriation increases by an additional 100 million to strengthen the crime-fighting and crime-preventing work. It is important.
And finally: The Swedish Tax Agency has a fantastic level of trust. I was in Ukraine, Madam Speaker, and met with the director of their tax agency. The tax agencies in Ukraine and in Sweden work together; we need to support Ukraine to build up trust there, because they need their tax money. It is very important that Ukrainians feel that the money goes to the right thing - there is a lot of corruption - and that people start to trust the tax authority.
In Sweden, we have a fantastic tax agency that works for the citizens' best interests and enjoys a high level of trust. They shall continue to have that. They also very much want to take a large responsibility in the crime-fighting work. They have received new tools since we took office, they received them from the previous government, and they will continue to receive them. I will also see to it, Madam Speaker, that they have the resources they need to do the work they are set to do. I have responsibility and I take responsibility, and I intend to continue with that.
Sofie Eriksson (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for Finance both for this debate and for the previous ones.
If it appears in any way that I ridiculed the problems we have regarding population registration or the measures being taken to address these problems, I apologize. It was never my intention to ridicule it at all.
I believe we agree completely on the description of the problem. We must have control over who lives and stays in our country. But what is interesting, and what my colleague Peder Björk and I have raised here, is that the Swedish Tax Agency, as recently as 2021, conducted exactly a situation assessment based on our registers. And we reintroduced the possibility of conducting home visits and inspections. These are two examples of the policy that the Moderates and Sweden Democrats totally condemned.
It is this that we want to return to here in the debate, because the reality now is that the Moderates and Sweden Democrats continue with the policy that the Social Democrats launched. We are not against continuing with our policy, but we have a problem with that it is first condemned and it is said that one should have specifically a census, and then when one comes to power, it is called something else. Then one talks about how it is not actually that specific situation assessment that is so important, but the ongoing controls and registers and all those things that we Social Democrats highlighted.
There is something important about valuing that words matter. Therefore, I wonder why it is not called a census. What is a census according to this government that is governing now?
ANDRE VICE TALMANNEN
Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson waives her right to give her closing remarks in this interpellation debate.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.