Wednesday, October 17, 2007

The Penny (or Krone) Finally Drops

Amazing article in "Ekstra Bladet" today, where the newspaper managed to track down and interview the only Dane in Denmark who hasn't got any consumer loans!

In case you're not aware, ANY loan for ANY purpose you take out in Denmark attracts tax relief of 33% on the interest. So, you can hit the shops for a new 42" LCD TV and know that it means less tax on your payslip. Bizarre, and probably explains why Denmark is one of the 5 most personally indebted countries in the world.

Whether or not you agree with tax relief on homeloans, I cannot believe anyone would consider such a system that promotes consumer spending over saving to be fair. I'm glad therefore that finally some media has mentioned it, and would expect this to be the first step in abolishing this concession, as more people cotton onto it. The UK abolished MIRAS (20% mortgage relief) on loans in the mid-1990s, and it had zero effect on house prices, or anything else for that matter. It's probably quite an expensive tax relief to administer as well.

Worth saying that I don't have any consumer loans either, but then again I'm not a Dane indoctrinated into their system from an early age.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oi, achei seu blog pelo google está bem interessante gostei desse post. Gostaria de falar sobre o CresceNet. O CresceNet é um provedor de internet discada que remunera seus usuários pelo tempo conectado. Exatamente isso que você leu, estão pagando para você conectar. O provedor paga 20 centavos por hora de conexão discada com ligação local para mais de 2100 cidades do Brasil. O CresceNet tem um acelerador de conexão, que deixa sua conexão até 10 vezes mais rápida. Quem utiliza banda larga pode lucrar também, basta se cadastrar no CresceNet e quando for dormir conectar por discada, é possível pagar a ADSL só com o dinheiro da discada. Nos horários de minuto único o gasto com telefone é mínimo e a remuneração do CresceNet generosa. Se você quiser linkar o Cresce.Net(www.provedorcrescenet.com) no seu blog eu ficaria agradecido, até mais e sucesso. (If he will be possible add the CresceNet(www.provedorcrescenet.com) in your blogroll I thankful, bye friend).

VikingRaider said...

Great,my first piece of blog spam!