No matter how good her name is Norway as far as his welfare state is concerned, with respect to taxation he probably does not have a similar reputation. Over the past twelve months, more than 30 of the wealthiest Norwegians have left the country to move to Switzerland and other countries with preferential tax rates. And the managing directors of Norwegian companies are expressing their concerns, as they usually report in their publications. Financial Timeson the taxation of property by the centre-left government in Oslo. According to official figures, at least 30 billionaires and millionaires have traded their lives in Norway for life in Switzerland in 2022 due to lower rates. Among these “immigrants” is the once richest man in the world, Kiel Inge Roque. Other colleagues have moved to Cyprus, Italy and Canada.

Churn in 2022 is greater than in the previous 13 years combined.

Even wealthier Norwegians are likely to follow suit, worried about tax changes they claim are hurting the country’s competitiveness. This is reported by the rich people of the country, on the one hand, and their tax advisers, on the other. Among the first is Fredrik Haga, the 31-year-old co-founder of the $1 billion cryptocurrency data company Dune, who will officially announce his move from Norway to Zug in Switzerland on Saturday. “I had to choose: leave my base in Norway or do I want this company to succeed? It’s not that you don’t want to pay taxes. It’s about paying taxes on money I don’t have,” he told the Financial Times. At the center of the debate is the wealth tax, which is levied on all assets above NOK 1.7 million ($173,000).

Switzerland also has a wealth tax, but there are special offers for foreigners. For entrepreneurs like Haga, most of whose wealth is tied to his company, the tax structure could result in large dividends or even the sale of part of the business. However, since Dune is currently unprofitable but growing rapidly, it will not be able to pay dividends and has no intention of selling its stake. “Either I have to get the money from the company or I have to move,” said Fredrik Haga, who feared his next tax bill would be many times his disposable income. According to publicly available annual tax returns, a group of wealthy Norwegians who left for Switzerland this year had a combined net worth of NOK 29 billion and paid NOK 550 million in taxes. According to Dagens Naeringsliv, the exodus in 2022 is larger than in the previous 13 years combined. Roque, who moved to Lugano in September and paid NOK 181 million in taxes last year, declined to comment.