Bodø mayor Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen wants to lure tax evaders home by cutting wealth tax for business. One of them Ingebrigtsen hopes to bring back to Northern Norway is billionaire Tord Kolstad. According to Ingebrigtsen, the municipality loses between one and two million tax kroner a month because the property developer lives in Switzerland. But now the mayor’s prayer can be heard. With the recent tax news from Bodø fresh in his mind, Kolstad is open to moving back home. – Yes, I have been completely open from the start that I would never move from Bodø. It is my city and it was there that I started my business as an unemployed 19-20-year-old, he says to news and adds: – What made me reluctantly move from Norway was that the government doubled the tax burden on business owners overnight. A majority in Bodø city council has decided to investigate whether it is possible to cut up to 75 per cent on the tax against working capital. Photo: Bodø municipality Kolstad is good for NOK 1.65 billion, according to Kapital. In 2022, he took his family with him and moved to Switzerland. He explains that he had no choice but to scale down and sell the company or move abroad. – I still feel like a Bodoer and a Norwegian. The same choice faces many other business owners now. They have to move or sell because of the current regime, says Kolstad. Avisa Nordland has also mentioned that the billionaire is open to moving back home to Norway. Pleasant signal Kolstad believes the Conservative Party’s proposal will be very positive for Bodø. – This shows that the politicians in Bodø have understood and take seriously that the tax regime in Norway is very destructive for Norwegian owners. He believes this will lead to a large influx of people to Bodø and increased tax revenues. – These are people who want to invest their money in Bodø, which in turn creates more jobs, says Kolstad. Bodø mayor Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen warmly welcomes Kolstad back to the city. – It is a very pleasant signal to receive. It remains to be seen what we will get in terms of decision-making basis in due course. But this was exactly what we were hoping for. It is a business-friendly proposal and we want more people here who want to invest and create jobs. Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen and Høyre are in favor of a general property tax, but against the part of the tax that applies to business owners. Photo: Malene Gaino Buljo / news – Not the way to solve it However, not everyone is equally satisfied with the billionaire’s flirtation from Bodø. In Gildeskål, one of Bodø’s neighboring municipalities, the local Ap leader fears that the tax proposal will contribute to people leaving the rural areas. – This is not the right solution for increasing population growth in the region. What Bodø Høyre has now done is to ensure that Bodø can grow, but that it extends beyond the surrounding municipalities, says leader of the Gildeskål Labor Party Silje Nordgård. She continues: – We all know that population growth comes from the district around Bodø. If we start making a race in the region, it will be really ugly. Then it becomes a “race to the bottom” by lowering taxes. That is not the way to solve population growth. Silje Nordgård in Gildeskål The Labor Party fears more people fleeing to the cities if the Høyre’s tax proposal goes through. Photo: Andreas Trygstad / news She points out that the Conservative Party did nothing about the wealth tax when they were in government, and that this is something that must be resolved at national level. – We have a very good collaboration in Salten, and we need it. I think we will be able to solve the challenges we have together, but with this move we risk Bodø becoming the cuckoo king in the north kicking the other municipalities out of the nest. We don’t want that. – Couldn’t Gildeskål do the same? – If we were to take part in such a race, we would get less money to provide services to our citizens, replies the Ap politician. In Nordland, Conservative mayor Sture Pedersen has also attracted attention with his measures regarding the wealth tax. They were the first municipality in the country to cut property tax to 0.2 per cent in 2019. Party colleague and parliamentary representative Bjørnar Skjæran says in Friday’s Dagsnytt 18 that Høyre’s proposal will go beyond the neighboring municipalities or the service offer to Bodø municipality. – If this goes through, someone else will have to foot the bill. Either by people moving to Bodø from the rural areas or by Bodø municipality having to close schools or cut elderly care, says Skjæran. See the debate between Skjæran and Ingebrigtsen here: Disclosures about Norsk Industri’s use of millions of dollars on hunting grounds, cabins and seaplanes. Thinks Bodø gets an advantage Also in Fauske, another neighboring municipality to Bodø, mayor Marlen Rendall Berg (Sp) believes that the Conservative Party’s tax measures can create advantages that the municipalities in the districts cannot compete against. – Bodø must be very attentive, as the county capital and the largest city in the region, it has the responsibility to look after surrounding municipalities. Without the countryside, the city is nothing. Marlen Rendall Berg, mayor of Fauske. Photo: Synnøve Sundby Fallmyr / news Fauske is struggling with the municipal finances and is on the Robek list. Rendall Berg says this is not something they could consider doing. – You can potentially get more tax revenue if you succeed in getting many people with capital and companies to move into the municipality. But the uncertainty is very great, and as a Robek municipality, it is a risk that is probably too great to take. – Then some rules of the game or competitive advantages are created that potentially pit municipalities against each other, concludes Rendall Berg. Ingebrigtsen in Bodø, on the other hand, believes the proposal could be positive for the city and neighboring municipalities. – We believe this will benefit Bodø and Nordland. Northern Norway has had stable emigration for several decades. This helps to get people back home, says the mayor.
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Billionaire Tord Kolstad opens up about moving home from Switzerland after tax proposals – news Nordland
