Wealth tax under attack as richest Scandinavians prepare to vote

Oslo

TAXING the rich has become a political hot potato ahead of Norway's election next month.

On Tuesday, the country's biggest business group weighed in, saying the opposition Labor Party's plan to raise the wealth tax by five billion kroner (S$830 million) over the next four years could harm job creation. It even rolled out a survey showing that nearly 60 per cent of business owners would increase employment if the wealth tax were removed.

"We mustn't draw up an artificial divide between businesses and people, rich and poor," Kristin Skogen Lund, head of the NHO, which represents 25,000 companies in Norway, said in an interview in Oslo. "This is about creating jobs, which is th…