Liberals call for lower taxes at party congress
Published: 20 Nov 09 13:47 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/23386/20091120/
Liberal party leader Jan Björklund has rallied members during a speech at the party conference in Växjö calling for lower taxes, developments in nuclear power production and for Sweden to adopt the euro as its currency.
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Expressing his support for Swedish military in Afghanistan, he told members that, among other assignments, the mission of Swedish soldiers is to protect the rights of girls to attend school.
”The Taliban are burning down schools and spraying acid in the eyes of schoolgirls,” he said and continued by attacking the opposition Left Party for proposing to withdraw troops.
Björklund also took issue with what he called the “intellectual cultural left” for using the US as a hate object, stating that democracy would not have existed in the world after 1945 if it had not been for America.
His outburst of criticism against fellow parties continued when he singled out the Greens for demanding that households should look towards small-scale local farmers for fresh food produce.
“The Green Party’s attitude to trade is directly hostile to developing countries,” he said.
Björklund also pointed towards a number of changes that he sees necessary to promote economic growth in Sweden and proposes a move to reduce taxes, beginning with the abolition of the the so-called temporary austerity levy (värnskatt).
Within enterprise, he wants to see improvements in employment law which affect small and medium-sized companies when having to down-size.
Björklund concluded that he remains positive towards the future development of nuclear power both for the sake of the environment and for industry.
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I think Sweden has gone so far left that they ended up on the right. Swedish liberals sound a lot like American republicans here (except for the Euro).
I agree. I think I will vote for the, next election.
The sooner Sweden is in the Euro the better, the sooner i can do more business online with a lot less hassle.
But before voting for them, I would like to see more detailed proposals like, just how do they intend to reach these goals?
'Liberal' has never really meant the same thing in Europe as it has in the US. In the US it's used loosely to describe any one who's a Democrat or generally left of centre. In Europe, a liberal is centrist, usually slightly to the right. The Swedish liberals have always been right of centre.
More particularly, liberal in the USA has been co-opted by the big-government factions from its original meaning.
The original John Stuart Mill liberal was in favor of as much individual freedom as practical. They were not stateists by any means.
The group in the USA most nearly like the classical liberal are not called Libertarians. They have a problem with their own lunatic fringe taking their principles to logical extremes.
When was the temporary austerity levy (värnskatt) initiated?
It takes money to provide what a nation needs for its people, and taxes are the only way to provide it. Don't expect the Swedish upper classes to provide it. They are too busy embracing the China ideal: Bring back slavery!
However I take exception to some of his other comments
"Björklund also took issue with what he called the "intellectual cultural left" for using the US as a hate object, stating that democracy would not have existed in the world after 1945 if it had not been for America."
Firstly it was not the "intellectual cultural left" that turned the US into a hate object, George W Bush managed that without any outside help.
Are we supposed to believe that America is the protector of democracy? and that Britain, France and all the other countries that fought the 1939-1945 war (not the American 1941-1945 war) had no part to play.
This guy is a gung ho military man who, in 2002, as first deputy chairman of his party, Björklund expressed his support for the coming U.S. invasion of Iraq and urged for Swedish participation in the multinational coalition.
Re his attack on the Greens for promoting local produce, he seems to want local agriculture to disappear in favour of developing countries. Get real
Taxes are not the only way to provide what a nation needs for its people, at least not exclusively. There are other models out there working just fine without strangling the hell out of the working class and without creäting a modern slave class either. Besides, I don't see the outstanding services which our extremely high taxes are supposed to be offering. Other countries provide better services at substantially lower taxes.
That's why I'm interested in seeing just how they propose to achieve their proposals. Talking is easy, the catch comes when they have to come down to getting the work done.
i do like the idea of paying less taxes, but i love the idea of a smaller more efficient government, too. ran by real honest people, not by grey uneventful people.
as a small business owner, high taxes definitely hurt growth thus making impossible to offer more jobs.