Reinfeldt admits to lower tax cuts
Moderate Party leader Fredrik Reinfeldt admitted yesterday that the Alliance's tax cuts would only leave a normal wage-earner 500 kronor better off every month, rather than the 1,000 kronor figure the party has publicized.
Reinfeldt made the admission during a grilling on public television station SVT on Sunday night.
The Alliance plans to cut income tax by 1,000 kronor for normal wage-earners. But the tax cut will be financed by raises elsewhere and the abolition of certain tax deductions.
The deductions the Alliance plans to abolish include those for union membership fees and home computers. People will also have to pay more money directly to finance the unemployment benefit system. Car insurance will also rise.
Reinfeldt said that a family with two wage-earners who were members of the LO confederation of working-class unions would get 1,000 kronor a month more together - in other words, only 500 kronor each.
The Moderate leader was also asked about his proposals for stiffer punishments for certain crimes.
In response to a question from a representative of ex-cons' organization Criminals Return into Society, Reinfeldt said he believed that tougher sentences were a deterrent. But, he added, they were not the only solution. He said that the prisons system needed to work, adding that too many sentences are at the lenient end of the scale.
"I don't really need to change a single law, just use the punishment scale. Serious assault is punishable by between one and ten years. Often this punishment is at the lower end of the scale - use the whole scale," he said.
Reinfeldt also wants to make it easier for people to shoot wolves.
"This should be possible when a wolf starts to act unnaturally, and starts taking sheep and domesticated animals. In those cases one should be able to shoot in a way that one is not allowed to today. I also want more local decision-taking," he said.
Reinfeldt was also asked how much an Alliance government would spend on foreign aid. The four-party grouping has not reached a common position on aid, and the Moderates want lower aid spending than the other three.
"It is reasonable that it won't be at the Moderates' level, given that this is not what the other three want," he said.
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Reinfeldt made the admission during a grilling on public television station SVT on Sunday night.
The Alliance plans to cut income tax by 1,000 kronor for normal wage-earners. But the tax cut will be financed by raises elsewhere and the abolition of certain tax deductions.
The deductions the Alliance plans to abolish include those for union membership fees and home computers. People will also have to pay more money directly to finance the unemployment benefit system. Car insurance will also rise.
Reinfeldt said that a family with two wage-earners who were members of the LO confederation of working-class unions would get 1,000 kronor a month more together - in other words, only 500 kronor each.
The Moderate leader was also asked about his proposals for stiffer punishments for certain crimes.
In response to a question from a representative of ex-cons' organization Criminals Return into Society, Reinfeldt said he believed that tougher sentences were a deterrent. But, he added, they were not the only solution. He said that the prisons system needed to work, adding that too many sentences are at the lenient end of the scale.
"I don't really need to change a single law, just use the punishment scale. Serious assault is punishable by between one and ten years. Often this punishment is at the lower end of the scale - use the whole scale," he said.
Reinfeldt also wants to make it easier for people to shoot wolves.
"This should be possible when a wolf starts to act unnaturally, and starts taking sheep and domesticated animals. In those cases one should be able to shoot in a way that one is not allowed to today. I also want more local decision-taking," he said.
Reinfeldt was also asked how much an Alliance government would spend on foreign aid. The four-party grouping has not reached a common position on aid, and the Moderates want lower aid spending than the other three.
"It is reasonable that it won't be at the Moderates' level, given that this is not what the other three want," he said.
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