This article is a translation of the previous article into English. The policy that the populist party "Sweden First" on the "Sweden in electoral cooperation´s" digital platform has when it comes to handling problems regarding migration in European countries is likely to be general. Therefore, it is presented here. This article is free of charge for media in all countries to publish on their media platforms. The policy is that people can be taxed where you wants them and that using market forces costs nothing and is effective.
Sweden has trapped itself in a tax system that rewards passivity, punishes ambition, and suffocates growth. Since the 1968 student revolts the politicians have tried to tax their way to equality according to Marxist principles – from each according to his ability, to each according to his need. The result is clear for everyone to see: Sweden now has often the lowest growth rate in the European Union, a welfare state under strain, and a government that has started again borrowing to fund its own promises.
It is time to turn the entire logic upside down. Instead of taxing people away from work, saving, and responsibility, we should tax people towards those goals – towards productivity, self-reliance, and genuine citizenship.
The most efficient and fair way to do this is to introduce a uniform personal tax - equally for everyone between the ages of 18 and 64. Everyone pays a fixed daily tax, regardless of income, in the same way as you pay your electricity bill. The system is based on the truly egalitarian principle: equal obligations, equal rights.
The reform can be phased in gradually. In the first year, every adult would pay 50 kronor per day, roughly £4, or about £120 per month. This amount would be deductible from existing income taxes. Each year, the daily contribution would rise by 50 kronor until it reaches 500 kronor per day after ten years, replacing the current income tax entirely. When the reform is complete, Sweden will have a single, transparent, and fair tax – low enough to encourage work, yet broad enough to sustain the welfare state.
For individuals, the benefits are immediate and tangible. You will always know what you owe. The more you work, the more you keep. No more complex declarations, marginal tax traps, or bureaucratic paperwork. The system rewards work, savings, and responsibility. It becomes virtually impossible to live in Sweden without working – but highly rewarding to take responsibility for one’s life.
For the state, the advantages are even greater. The current system requires vast administrative machinery to manage income-based taxation, benefits, and countless labour market schemes. A uniform personal daily tax would make half of this bureaucracy redundant. With a radically broadened tax base – where everyone pays – total taxes could be almost halved for all citizens without reducing state revenues.
The most transformative effect, however, concerns assimilation. Today, hundreds of thousands of immigrants are trapped in what Swedes ironically call “the employment carousel” – first social income support, followed by a stately supported entry-level job, then unemployment benefits and then social assistance again and then it can continue until retirement. This is designed mainly to keep them off the unemployment statistics. Between these often six-to-twelve-month activities, they live on benefits, learning that the system rewards inactivity more than participation. This cycle can continue until retirement – provided they vote for the lefties parties that maintain it.
A uniform personal tax changes that dynamic completely. Everyone residing in Sweden and holding a personal identification number must contribute daily. Those who refuse to work or pay taxes are excluded from most public services. A migrant unwilling to contribute could receive a free one-way ticket to a country of their choice – not out of hostility, but out of fairness. Assimilation would no longer rely on rhetoric but on clear, material incentives: contribute, participate, and belong – or move elsewhere.
The economic potential for society is enormous. Today, roughly 300 billion kronor per year – about £22 billion – are spent covering the net cost of immigration, according to economist Joakim Ruist. This sum has been reallocated from all the different activities in the public bunch of activities. If all these costs could be gained back through higher employment and self-reliance, Sweden could become as before, rebuild its defense, repair its infrastructure, and strengthen healthcare etc. – without borrowing a single krona.
A fixed daily contribution also reinforces the moral bond between citizenship and duty. At present, many benefit from the public sector without ever having contributed and lacks citizenship. Under a uniform personal tax, the relationship becomes explicit: the degree to which you pay determines your access to public services. Taxation thus regains its true meaning – not as punishment for success, but as a civic duty shared equally by all.
The system naturally requires order and control. Taxation is done through personal identification, for example a Swedish passport with fingerprints. This ensures that everyone living in the country also contributes. It makes undeclared work more difficult and eliminates the possibility of living anonymously in the benefit system. You carry your fingerprint with you as a door opener daily for your earned rights.
Most importantly, such a reform would end the class rhetoric that has poisoned Swedish politics since the 1968 student revolts. Back then, society was divided between “evil capitalists”, who could save, and “good workers”, defined by their inability to do so. This ideological bullying of savers – the very people who generate investment and growth – has drained the country of economic vitality. Instead of encouraging thrift, politicians have taxed savings into consumption to buy votes. The result: less investment, less productivity, and less freedom. That the volume of savings determines the growth rate is a long-term argument that is not viable in the politics that apply here and now!
Sweden needs to return to a system that rewards equal treatment, responsibility and savings. No one should be punished for success or rewarded for idleness. A broad, uniform tax base, where everyone contributes equally, would allow Sweden to halve its overall tax burden while finally reviving long-term growth.
A personal tax equal for all is not merely an economic reform. It is a new social contract. It renews the social contract between citizens and the state, binding work, contribution, and freedom together once again. It is time to end the illusion that equality means redistribution. True equality means shared responsibility.
Sverige Först (Sweden First) is a rising political movement within the Sverige i Valsamverkan (Sweden in Electoral Cooperation) network – available online at valsamverkan.se. The party’s twelve-point program aims to pull Sweden out of crisis. Point 4, titled “Switch to an Assimilation-Driven, Growth-Promoting Tax System”, proposes this very reform. Support us – and help Sweden regain control of its future in the 2026 election.