Tax relief for everyone, cheaper food and fuel, and a maximum price of electricity of 50 øre. This is something that the Progress Party promises in its alternative state budget for next year. Here, there is voter courtship for all the money. But the price for the party can be sky high, and fundamentally change Norway.
The Progress Party has wind in its sails. The alternative budget sets the party up for further growth in the opinion polls. It clearly shows that the FRP under Sylvi Listhaug’s leadership has a flair for what is happening outside the country, and for what most people want. Such an FRP is a formidable opponent for the left, not least in an expensive time.
A new blue-blue government will change Norwegian society dramatically.
Altogether, the FRP promises more than NOK 60 billion more in tax relief than the government, almost half of which will be cuts in income tax for ordinary people. At the same time: The cut in wealth tax is 12.6 billion. The exit tax will also go away. It will help to greatly increase the differences between the richest and the rest.
The FRP will finance some of the tax cuts by spending 15 billion oil money more than the government. The party will also receive greater dividends from Folketrygdfondet, Statkraft and other state ownership. That is how much the right-wing’s criticism of the government’s use of oil money is worth. But at least as important: the FRP must cut government spending sharply. For example, the FRP will cut 5.7 billion to church and culture. Support for literature houses, cultural buildings, press support, cultural funds, performing arts and artist grants will be throttled. Plans are being made to destroy cultural life.
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The FRP will also cut several billion in support for the green transition. It will affect the absolutely necessary conversion to green industry. The FRP will also spend NOK 7.5 billion less than today on settling refugees and reducing benefits. The list could be much longer. In summary: Norway will become a country with greater differences that bets heavily on oil and gas, and that pursues a “Norway first” policy where the world can sail its own seas and far fewer are allowed to settle in our country.
The FRP must cooperate with the Conservative Party if the party is to gain government power next autumn. Together, the two parties will reverse much of what the government has done to strengthen everything from dental health, the trade union movement and district politics, to name a few – on top of providing tax cuts for those who have the most from before. A new blue-blue government will change Norwegian society dramatically.
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