Maren Benedicte Nystad Storslett has been elected to the Sami Parliament for the Norwegian Sami National Association (NSR). This party is the largest in the Sami parliament. The 26-year-old from Kautokeino thinks the money that the Storting gives to the Sami Parliament is not enough for, among other things, language, culture, children, young people, teachers, textbooks and for industries. – The Sami community has great needs. If the Sami Parliament is to be able to further develop the Sami community and respond to the needs, it must get more money, she tells news. But now Maren Benedicte is putting forward a proposal which, according to her, can give NOK 400 million extra. – Today, your income tax is distributed between the municipality, county municipality and state. I believe that now is the time for the Sami Parliament to also get a share, she says. Tax from 20,000 Sami This money will be collected from the people in Norway who have registered in the Sami Parliament’s electoral roll, Nystad Storslett proposes. At the last election, 20,545 people were here. – The share shall be taken from the part of the income tax that goes to the state. The Sami taxpayer must therefore not pay additional tax. And by taking the share from the state’s pot, the municipalities and county municipalities will not lose anything on this, says Maren Benedicte Nystad Storslett. An estimate she herself has made based on an average salary in Norway and takes 5 percent of this, then it shows that the “Sami tax” can amount to NOK 400 million annually. – A very bad idea Minister of Finance Trygve Slagsvold Vedum’s party colleague Heidi Greni (Sp) in the Storting is clear on what she thinks about the proposal to the NSR representative: – It is a very bad idea. Taxing on ethnicity is a very bad idea, she tells news. Greni, who sits on the Storting’s municipal committee, believes that the proposal with a “Sami tax” will mean that the state increases its funding by NOK 400 million. – And it will then be 400 million less to run hospitals, build national roads and so on, she says. Greni says she understands that the Sami Parliament needs more money for language preservation, teaching aid development and cultural preservation. news has not received any comment from the political leadership in the Ministry of Finance, but senior communications adviser Helene Megaard writes this in an e-mail: , and the financing of the Sami Parliament becomes more unpredictable. Rødt: – Could have been sensible news has asked for comment from the members of the Storting’s finance committee, but only Rødt’s Marie Sneve Martinussen has answered. She says the proposal from Maren Benedicte Nystad Storslett is completely new for Rødt. SV’s parliamentary representative Grete Wold believes the proposal for direct taxation is a creative and exciting idea. – But at the same time, there are some aspects of the proposal that must be investigated in that case. So we take the idea with us, but have no concrete plans to make such a proposal, she says. Aps Terje Sørvik says they have no plans to introduce direct tax to the Sami Parliament. – It is not many years since the financing of the Sami Parliament was changed and gave more freedom to the Sami Parliament in financing matters, he says. Political adviser Hårek Hansen in the Progress Party says the party does not intend to follow up this matter in the Storting.
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Maren (26) wants the tax from 20,000 Sami to go to the Sami Parliament – news Sápmi
