Norway Is the Only Country with Public Tax Returns (2018)

I think most people simply don't care enough to check out other people, while risking to come off as a snooper.

Personally, Id rather have my medical history available to the public than my personal wealth or income (and Im loath to give that up!). No one except my wife knows how much I make. In the case of my parents, my mom has never known how much money my dad makes.

They may seem strange to you, it may seem barbaric or backwards. That’s irrelevant - I’m firmly entrenched in this position and wont help you release this data (through my vote, and legal lawsuits, clearly).

You can’t dismiss me as an eccentric American behind the more enlightened Europeans - Im not American, I am and grew up in Europe, I just live in the US.

Nor am I or did I grow up rich. Growing up, my dad whenever my dad was doing the bills he joked he was feeding a blackhole (debt). We never knew how big this hole was, but we knew where it came from - even a hard working engineer has a steep financial hill when you’re from a poor country.

You really must understand ours is a deep seated difference in points of view. My mom has never asked how much my dad made, my dad has yet to tell her. My mom had a vague idea how much she could spend (her guesstimate was very good) my dad never enquired what she spent money on. He himself never spent any money except on us. The result is they never fought over money, the most common marital problem (I guarantee you this. Both my parents would rather be paupers than put money between their relationship - they are both very stoic and devoted to each other). I doubt this would have been the case had my mom ever displayed any interest in money.

So what does making my tax returns or my salary (probably the lowest among my colleagues) publicly available mean to us? It means inviting strangers into our intimate space, more intimate than the fact that I have a rare auto immune disease Ill share with a random person on the internet (anonymized, of course :P ).

You see, there are people who view this information not merely as a means to a more just society (whatever that means anymore) but as a very intimate part of their family life. Just because some cannot see that doesn’t mean it isn't real.

It changed when internet got popular and everything was dumped online with no restrictions for a few years until people realised how much more invasive that got than the prior system, so now you have to log in and people can see whether or not their name has been looked up if you do it online.

Forcing construction of mixed income neighborhoods (much like forced busing of students) very quickly improves schooling and policing outcomes, though sadly more affluent folks often move out soon thereafter.

It doesn't have to though. That's a choice. Heck I know people with likely >10M net worth that are still living with roommates.

> nobody carries cash anymore

But if they know you have $10M, they could kidnap your spouse on the way to work, and children on their way to school, for a $1M ransom in bitcoin?

Something that's more easily avoided if they don't have a price tag associated with your face in a publicly-viewable database.

With regard to the second, yes a case can be made that since countries invade privacy any way, utilizing this information like this doesn't add to the privacy invasion. Maybe. But an admittedly speculative argument could be made that it makes more people economically dependent on income taxation (like the hypothetical tax receipt roll scourers who identify and stalk successful truffle foragers), making it harder to abolish the institution. The way I see it, the less we normalize income taxation, the better.

You can have some stats or non-PI info published on this. Or force companies to publish how much they are paying to existing employees with same title, like they starting to do in several US states. No need for nosy neighbor or potential romantic interest to have access to my income.

> Making it easier to push back against recruiters (market average is this, I'm at least average, fuck you pay me)

Or you might be below average like significant amount of people who I have interviewed and who can't reverse a string? Anyway, everyone can't get "at least average" salary, that is not how average works (note for pedants: unless everyone earns exactly the same, of course).

> easier time spotting tax evasion

What does it have to do with tax evasion? IRS already has this data. If you are worried about politicians and government employees and want visibility into their earnings (which is reasonable), you can make only their data public, which is already implemented as a law in my country. Again, no need for a random Tinder date to have this data.

> exposing inequality in society in undeniable fashion, giving teeth to any arguements about them

I won't argue with your leftist agenda, but again, you can just publish stats (e.g. senior software engineer average in location X is Y) without letting my extended family know how much I make.

> The bandits/corruption thing I can't argue with, but that's a deeper and different problem than public taxes in Norway or Germany. Same for gold diggers and money bags

Well, maybe let's not enable these people then? Especially since there are multiple other options that I presented previously.

If you as a manager can justify the difference then having the salary transparent shouldn't be a problem. If you can't, then there's a problem.

If you are the one receiving the salary, I don't see why you should have to defend yourself anymore than we have people"defending themselves" for living in a nice neighborhood. It simply doesn't come up. Just point to the manager/employer and say "ask them"