M: Lower the tax for retirees who have worked

- There are very many pensioners in Sweden who have worked a full life, but who do not receive more money in pension than those who have not worked at all. So we cannot have it, it is unfair and it erodes confidence in the pension system. So we want to raise the pension after tax for those who have worked. Then we reduce the tax by SEK 400 a month for all pensioners who have worked, says Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson to SVT.

The moderates therefore want a more noticeable difference in the pension between those who have a low income pension and those who have a so-called guarantee pension. It is usually called the respect distance, the difference in pension between the one who worked full time for forty years in a low-wage occupation and the one who worked little or not at all.

The proposal is to reduce the tax on pension by SEK 400 per month from an income of SEK 11,000, with a phase-in from SEK 9,000 per month. In practice, it is envisaged that the reinforced basic deduction that already exists should be further strengthened. The proposal would cost about SEK 9 billion a year.

- I think the line of work is important, it should pay to work in Sweden, but it should also pay to have worked, says Ulf Kristersson.

How should it be financed?

- We will finance this in the usual way in our budget, but what we are doing now is that we are putting this proposal on the Riksdag's table in the ongoing discussions about the future of pensions.

The proposal will be included in the parliamentary pension group. Instead, the government proposes a supplement for people with low income pensions, which would be SEK 600 a month on a general income pension between SEK 11,000 and SEK 14,000. The supplement would be increased from SEK 9,000 and escalated to 17,000, and it should have worked 40 years to get the full supplement.

Social Security Minister Ardalan Shekarabi (S) also thinks it is important to mark the respect distance. But he would rather talk about increased pensions and increased pension contributions.

- The respect gap must increase, and that assumes that we raise pensions and we will do that in 2021. But it also requires that the pension contribution be increased now, and that is a reasonable question for the Moderates and other parties: are they prepared to raise the pension contribution so that can pensions continue to increase? says Ardalan Shekarabi to SVT.