Swedish tax authority makes ad in low-tax Estonia
James Savage - [email protected]
Published: 18 May, 2006 CET.
Updated: Thu 18 May 2006 16:51 CET
When the Swedish tax authority wanted to produce a television advertisement to encourage taxpayers to pay up on time, they chose to make it in low-cost Estonia, partly in a bid to escape high Swedish taxes.
The ads, featuring popular comic Johan Wahlström, would have cost 50 to 100 percent more to make in high-tax Sweden than they did in Estonia, Björn Tennholt at the Swedish Tax Authority (Skatteverket), told Expressen.
Asked why the ads cost so much less to make on the other side of the Baltic, Tennholt said it was due to the wages. When pressed by Expressen's reporter as to whether the taxes were partly to blame he admitted, "of course, Sweden is a high-tax society."
He also admitted that cheaper prices had also led the organisation to make films in Barcelona and Majorca, and print brochures in Finland.
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The ads, featuring popular comic Johan Wahlström, would have cost 50 to 100 percent more to make in high-tax Sweden than they did in Estonia, Björn Tennholt at the Swedish Tax Authority (Skatteverket), told Expressen.
Asked why the ads cost so much less to make on the other side of the Baltic, Tennholt said it was due to the wages. When pressed by Expressen's reporter as to whether the taxes were partly to blame he admitted, "of course, Sweden is a high-tax society."
He also admitted that cheaper prices had also led the organisation to make films in Barcelona and Majorca, and print brochures in Finland.
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