– About half have had to tighten up sharply. Some people have to put food against medicine. Others have to skip the hot meal. Securing purchasing power is one of the main goals of the budget now, says SV leader Kirsti Bergstø. – How are you going to achieve that? – By increasing benefits for people who have little. It is necessary for more people to manage in the expensive times. PERFORMANCE: SV leader Kirsti Bergstø believes that people who cannot work must be given a boost. Photo: Kristian Skårdalsmo / news On Friday, the government’s proposal for the state budget will be presented to the Storting. But the Labor Party and the Center Party do not have a majority on their own and must have the support of SV in order to pass the budget. Now Bergstø clarifies what will be SV’s main priorities in the budget negotiations this autumn: Securing purchasing power. Keep people in work. Measures for green transition. – 150,000 at the lowest level Last week there was another alarming report: The economy has improved somewhat in some social groups, but two out of three in the most vulnerable skip meals due to a lack of money, according to the report. The age of animals is not over yet, warns researcher Christian Poppe at the Norwegian Institute for Consumer Research (Sifo). – We are particularly concerned about the 150,000 households that are at the lowest security level, he says. Bergstø himself does not want to say exactly which benefits the party will now prioritize in the negotiations at the Storting. But in previous rounds, the party has won approval for increased social assistance, study support, minimum pension, housing benefit and, not least, child benefit. In spring’s negotiations on the revised national budget for 2023, child benefit was increased by NOK 2 billion. – These are measures we know work. Because when prices increase for most things, it’s hardest for those who have little, she says. But SV is not only considering increasing short-term “crisis benefits”, such as housing benefit and social assistance. Demands may also be put forward to strengthen broad benefits such as disability benefits and employment verification money, in addition to new welfare reforms. – Welfare reforms such as free after-school care and cheap dental care are things that work in people’s lives. But there are more people who have tough days, including disability on minimum benefits or work settlement allowance, who are ill and struggling with their health, and who do not have the opportunity to increase their income through work. There is only one problem with such a requirement: the price tag quickly becomes very high. In the current year, for example, the state is spending around NOK 118 billion on disability benefits. TAX: SV leader Kirsti Bergstø believes that those who have the most expensive homes and the largest assets must contribute more to the community. Photo: Hanna Johre / NTB Facts about the national budget The government presents its proposal for the national budget on Friday 6 October. The opposition then has a few weeks to ask questions about the budget, before the parties work out their alternative budgets. The governing parties, the Center Party and the Labor Party, do not have a majority in the Storting, and therefore need support from other parties to get the budget passed. Ap and Sp have committed themselves to negotiating with their regular budget partner SV first, and the three parties have so far come together in three different rounds. The national budget must be adopted by the Storting’s last meeting before Christmas, and as a rule the month of November is used for budget negotiations. This time too, Kari Elisabeth Kaski leads SV’s delegation, while the finance committee’s leader Eigil Knutsen from the Labor Party leads the negotiations. The Center Party is running for the first time with its new fiscal spokesperson Ole André Myhrvold. Increased tax The budget negotiations may also become a new, fierce tug-of-war over how SV’s ventures are to be financed. Because after last year’s scandals about the salmon tax and the temporary increase in employer’s tax for incomes over NOK 750,000, Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum has gone out on a limb and promised that there will be no major tax measures in the 2024 budget. SERIOUS: Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp) and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) before the government’s budget conference this autumn. Photo: Emilie Holtet / NTB But for SV, the starting point is different: Those who have the most must contribute more. – We want a fair tax on wealth, housing and inheritance. It is necessary for us to achieve the redistribution that can make us a society with small differences and strong communities, where people can actually get by on the benefits they get, says Bergstø. – How are you going to get approval for this when the governing parties say no? – We will sit down at the negotiating table when they have presented the budget, and we have gone through it and come up with our alternative. – But wouldn’t it be better to contribute to more people getting into work and thus being able to support themselves rather than increasing benefits? – There is no contradiction. The budget must have three main tasks, namely to secure people’s purchasing power, secure jobs and contribute to a green and fair transition. Sp warns the Center Party will field a new team captain when the budget negotiations start later this autumn. Ole André Myhrvold (45) from Østfold has taken over as fiscal spokesperson after Geir Pollestad, who is now Minister of Agriculture and Food. NEW MAN: Ole André Myhrvold has taken over the office and duties of Geir Pollestad as head of negotiations and fiscal policy spokesperson in the Center Party. Photo: Mats Rønning / news Myhrvold, who was previously mayor of Trøgstad and is now in his second term in the Storting, is optimistic ahead of the negotiations with SV. – I am looking forward to it and believe that we will have constructive talks. We have shown that we have achieved this with SV in previous years, he says. Regarding the demand for increased benefits, Myhrvold points out that the government has already taken important measures for redistribution. Some benefits have been increased, while tax has been cut for people with low incomes. – In addition, we saw a few weeks ago that the government is aiming to cut nursery prices, which will benefit families with children. But Myhrvold also issues a warning to SV: Price growth must be brought under control, to avoid new interest rate increases. – There is no room for large increases in the budget. We may risk another interest rate hike. It stings the wallets of ordinary people, and is of course something we have to take with us into the budget rounds, he says.
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