23/04/2005 5:57:22 pm
A Good Environment for Entrepreneurs? Today, I spoke at the annual regional conference for politicians and business leaders in Karlstad, Värmland. After me, Signhild Arnegård Hansen, vice-chairman of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, spoke. She presented a number of telling figures that show clearly the poor situation for entrepreneurs and companies in Sweden. The total taxes on companies in Sweden are the highest of all among the OECD countries. In fact, it is twice as high as the EU average. Swedish companies fill in 73 million sheets of papers to the authorities every year, of which 95 % are related to the taxes. The figure for new companies is 4 % in Sweden, compared to the European average of 9 %. And the European average is far from great: Companies in the US grow six times more during their two first years than the small companies in EU-15 do.