Core Chronicle: Sharpening, National Tax! – Göteborgs-Posten

If people feel that the Tax treats differently individuals can seriously erode trust.

In Wednesday’s edition of Assignment investigation revealed that two of the Tax Agency’s top executives have tried to discriminate against an old colleague. Ingemar Hansson Director General and Director General Helena Dyrssen was both secretary of state in the former alliance government. During the reign they worked with Mr Belfrage.

When SVT’s Mission Review examined the Swedes who had untaxed assets overseas, and then submitted himself corrections to the Tax Agency, requested the information relating Belfrage. It made the Tax Agency’s top management heard about. Dyrssen and Hansson discussed whether they would contact Belfrage, a call which then led to Dyrssen called Belfrage. But he never answered.

Tax Agency one of Sweden’s most important authorities. The welfare state funded through taxes and VAT. An authority that collects information on citizens and inspects must act properly and protect its public image. It is simply to treat everyone equally, regardless of background or position in society. But if the citizens feel that the authority give special treatment to individuals, it can seriously erode trust in the Tax Agency.

That is why the revelation in Wednesday’s Mission Review startling. The authority’s two top executives even thought the idea of ​​alerting an old colleague shows a lack of professionalism. No circumstances can justify their actions. Not even the phone call never came, as Director General Ingemar Hansson repeatedly explained to the Mission review-Janne Josefsson.

Sweden experienced as a country spared from corruption. Transparency International, which examines corruption, puts Sweden in third place out of a total 168 countries in its annual ranking of the least corrupt countries. But that does not mean we are free from defects.
What’s Mission review-revealing about nothing more than an example of cronyism?

The National Audit Office has previously asked for measures to prevent possible cronyism in the Swedish authorities, among through more clear guidelines and control (RiR 2013: 2). The authority has also pointed to the importance of active leadership based on ethical discussions. And given the Swedish Tax Agency’s top management has taken a debate when they discovered that their former colleague been reviewed. But especially ethics was not.