News

UNI Europa Finance, the European Trade Union for Finance and Insurance workers, that represents 1,5 million of employees around Europe, would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Norwegian Government has introduced a payroll tax in the Norwegian finance sector of 5%, potentially causing a direct job loss of 2500 employees in the finance sector in Norway.

A payroll tax is effectively a tax on labour and has no regulatory effect apart from being an incentive to reduce the number of employees and distort wage development with detrimental effects on employment and growth.

We believe that the finance sector in Europe needs to live up to its responsibility and to pay its part to society and fiscal consolidation, but finance employees should never pay with their jobs to achieve this.

A payroll tax could also have unfortunate effects on the financial infrastructure in Norway and financial consumers, since fewer finance employees inevitably would lead to shutting down on branches and less time for customer care and quality advice giving.

It is quite surprising and deeply regrettable that the Norwegian government wants to explicitly tax labour at a time when Europe needs focus on employment and growth.

The Norwegian government is sending the wrong signals to finance workers, finance consumers and the entire European agenda with its current proposal on payroll tax.

UNI Europa Finance therefore calls on the Norwegian government to reconsider taxation of labour in the Norwegian finance sector and to replace the payroll tax with smarter and more efficient tax models.

Please find here attached a copy of the statement.