What will the spending look like with a new red-green government? I have taken a look at the alternative state budgets.
The comments expresses the writer’s opinions.
At the time of writing, the Labor Party and the Center Party are negotiating to form a new government, and SV has withdrawn from the government polls. Audun Lysbakken has, however not excluded that he can re-enter the negotiations at a later date.
At the same time as the government makes the “proper” state budget, it is common for the other major parties to make their versions to show how they think the use of money should be. I took a look at these to see what a new red-green government thinks about spending money.
A common feature of the parties’ budgets is that they believe that too little money is spent on most things, even after the current government has increased spending from 1065 billion in 2013 (the red-greens’ latest budget) to 1515 billion in 2021.
Labor budget
I Labor Party’s budget I find 253 suggestions for increased spending. These are mainly symbolic sums for everything that sounds positive. A little more teachers, a little more mental health care, a little more to the municipalities, a little more ambulances, more flood protection, railways and housing support.
What can the Labor Party save money on?
After the government, the Labor Party came to the fore with cut HRS support I just see to real savings measures: A small brake on the payments to the EEA funding scheme (a flirtation with the Center Party?) and that private kindergartens will receive 1.5 per cent less subsidies than public ones (will it be legal?).
Should not the Labor Party join 59 employees and 48 parliamentary representatives able to find more than two savings measures? The Consumer Party thus won 253-2 over the responsibility of the Labor Party, with a net increase of NOK 24 billion.
The Center Party focuses on space travel and performing arts
The Center Party wins the award for most surprising proposals for increased spending.
More state support for seal hunting, space travel and the Cultural Council’s support scheme “free performing arts” are among the proposals.
That the Center Party believes that their core voters want to pay even more tax dollars to artists who are crying out for decolonization of the patriarchy at the Black Box in Oslo is surprising.
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The Center Party is also the party of these three that – perhaps surprisingly – wants the largest increase in spending. They promise a total of NOK 41 billion divided into 265 measures. At the same time, they are trying to save money on debureaucratisation, and the phrase “reduce bureaucracy” has been mentioned 81 times – without any explanation of how the party will achieve this while the level of activity will rise.
With some benevolence, I can see about 15 savings measures, which in total can save about four billion kroner.
The Consumer Party thus won 265-15 at the Center Party, with a net increase of NOK 37 billion in government spending.
«Sparepartiet »SV
SV is the only party that has made a sincere attempt to put some austerity measures in their alternative budget. Among other things, they will spend approximately three billion less on road development, cut 600 million less on research related to oil and gas, give 200 million less to the World Bank, and save 500 million on withdrawing forces from foreign operations.
They do not beat the Center Party in new measures measured in kroner and øre (approximately 39 billion in increased consumption, against Sps 41 million), but superbly win the competition to have most measures they want to spend more money on: As many as 368!
230 million for feminist development policy, 2.5 million extra for “Norwegian church academies”, four million extra goes to a theme park on Lofoten fishing, five million extra for “long-term plan for pilgrimage”, and a waterfall center in Gaular will receive 1.5 million extra.
SV also believes we must have more subtitles of dubbed films, and therefore allocates 250,000 kroner for this.
Read more comments by Are Søberg
Unfortunately, the imagination has few limits for what the state should spend your money on, and even SV finds about 10 suggestions for increased spending for each savings measure. The consumer party beats responsibility 368-40, and ends up saying that they believe the state must spend an extra NOK 27 billion.
Finally, an opposition critical to waste
Politicians’ extreme urge to accelerate the consumer party can make the future look bleak – wasteful.
But it is also a bright spot:
For eight years now, we have had a government that has greatly increased spending, and an opposition that has complained that the government is not increasing spending enough. Now we will have a government that will increase spending sharply, and an opposition that complains that the government is wasting.
With a red-green government, we can – regardless of whether Sv joins or not – get a Storting that at least spends time to talk about waste.
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