Taxman Darkens Their Norway

The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.

Taxman Darkens Their Norway
The country that gave us the Nobel Peace Prize is giving its own citizens access to what in a normal country would be one another’s private information, the Associated Press reports from Oslo:

It’s the moment nosy Norwegian neighbors have been waiting for–the release of official records showing the annual income and overall wealth of nearly every taxpayer in the Scandinavian country. . . .

Tax authorities in Norway have issued the “skatteliste,” or “tax list,” for 2008 to the media under a law designed to uphold the country’s tradition of transparency. . . .

Defenders of the system say it enhances transparency, deemed essential for an open democracy.

“Isn’t this how a social democracy ought to work, with openness, transparency and social equality as ideals?” columnist Jan Omdahl wrote in the tabloid Dagbladet. . . .

There are plenty of opponents of the list in Norway. A 2007 survey by research group Synovate revealed that only 32 percent of the Norwegian public wanted the tax list published, and 46 percent were against it.

So a large plurality opposes the measure, yet it’s justified in terms of democracy? “Norwegian democracy” must be the political equivalent of a Dutch treat or a Bronx cheer. 

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