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Norwegian-born citizens pay almost twice the tax of immigrants

Siv JensenMinster of Finance for the Progressive Party (FRP), Siv Jensen..Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB scanpix

Figures from Statistics Norway (SSB) show that Ola Nordmann paid NOK 112,800 in tax in 2015. Persons who were not born in Norway, paid only half, NOK 65,200. Tax is, of course, related to earnings.


There are differences between immigrant groups in how much they pay in tax revenues. In the median, people born in Iran paid 62,800 kroner. The equivalent for Somalis was 19,900 kroner. Polish citizens paid 70,800 per head, on average, wrote Klassekampen.

The differences have increased since 2000. While taxed income for Norwegians has increased by 95% on average in this 15-year period, reflecting their earnings,the tax for the immigrant population has increased by 60%.

These figures were obtained from Statistics Norway (SSB) and shown by The Ministry of Finance after the Senter Parti’s (Sp) Sigrid Simensen Ilsøy asked the Minister of Finance, Siv Jensen of Fremskrittsparti (Frp) in parliament, how much immigrants pay in taxes.

Adviser in SSB, Frøydis Strøm, said having full-time work or not, is the most important factor explaining the differences in paid taxes. Several immigrant groups are also overrepresented in low-income jobs.

The immigrant groups who paid the most in taxes came from the countries of
Northern Europe. Persons from Sweden paid an average of NOK 111,000, and persons from Germany, 104,500 kroner, thus reflecting their higher earnings.


©  NTB Scanpix / Norway Today

5 Comments on "Norwegian-born citizens pay almost twice the tax of immigrants"

  1. I wonder how efficient is labour inspection department? Any statistics on how many penalties and inspections they performed. Their strategies and targets. It’s obvious that there are so many restaurants and coffee shops, operating almost outside the law including the way they treat and reward their staff. What are the statistics for small bussiness bankruptcy? This can be a good point on how staff is treated there. Business that doesn’t go well will firstly hit staff.
    Low paid labour is great for employers and generally gives better opportunity for business competition and therefore costumer satisfaction, but nobody think about the effect on society. I don’t believe underpaid person (no matter Norwegian or migrant) can afford the same lifestyle as the better paid member of society and therefore feel part of it. Same apply in reverse way. A well paid member of our society does not find attractive to hang out with someone that cannot buy himself/herself a coffee or share a house with another 5-10 people, because cannot afford higher rent. Of course here I am discussing the difference in payment in similar positions.

    And this is how a gap is growing. Society is not capsuled. Interaction within society must be priority.

  2. She forgot to mentioned that Norwegian earning is not the same as immigrant so that they are paying a high tax as well. There is no way to compare it based of citizen or immigrant.

  3. I thought fake news doesn exist here in norway. I paid an average tax annually and average means a huge chunk of NOK. Enough to pay the remaining balance of our car loan.
    This headline is clearly anti foreign worker which is enough reason that Norwegian will hate us, besides I’m a member of fagforbundet and our salary were normally based on national tariff in all health care sector.

  4. Shame on you Gerard Taylor. Negatively framed, cheap alarming title with statistics irresponsibly analysed in isolation. The unfortunate result – a divisive attitude between Norwegian-born citizens and immigrant groups.

    Wouldn’t it be nicer to write an article about how hard it is for immigrants to find work in Norway? Or perhaps bring awareness of the silent prejudice of Norwegians against employing immigrants over Norwegian-born citizens?

  5. Please read the article before making negative remarks on a general basis. It is clearly stated that there are large differences between groups of immigrants. That besides, these are numbers from Statistics Norway. Norway Today is just the harbinger of information here.

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