4 ms·

Used to be? Is it no longer public?

by nafey 5y ago

Langdal 5y ago
It's still public, but now it is behind a login, and people can see who has looked at their tax info.
- Nextgrid 5y ago
  Out of interest, what would be a socially acceptable reason to lookup someone's info?
  - skinkestek 5y ago
    Now: next to none. Before: anything. Everybody did it if they had the slightest reason if my observations were correct. Just like I remember Norwegians taking a sauna (those who had) with friends or family or showering before swimming or after exercise at school, nobody thought about the fact that they were naked between peers it seemed. Today every kid complains about showering at school and everyone are very secretive about their income records. This is just observation, not judgement. I think there are good reasons on both sides of both questions even if I am conservative as few (not American "conservative", I just think it is smart to change society slowly and thoughtfully).
    - Nextgrid 5y ago
      Yes that was my point. When it was publicly accessible for everyone there wasn't a problem, but now that the information has to be explicitly requested (and the subject is alerted and provided the requestor's details) I was curious as to whether there were still any socially-acceptable reasons to request that info.
      - skinkestek 5y ago
        The only I can think of is journalism and similar.
  - orangepanda 5y ago
    Looking up colleagues' salary maybe?
  - wannadingo 5y ago
    To enable ones own salary negotiations as a rational economic actor (TM)?
thatwasunusual 5y ago
It's semi-public. Previously, up until 2010-ish?, newspapers etc. could ask for the public tax records from the government and make them searchable. Now that's not possible, but they are free to list the 10-50-100 richest people in each municipality, the sports people earning the most, the business mean with the highest wealth or lowest tax etc. Everyone can still look up individuals, though, but they have to log in to a government portal to do it, _and_ the individual being looked up will be notified about it, and who did it.
- 0x7E3 5y ago
  Looking up random strangers seems like a fun hobby. "Who is this person, and why is she looking me up? Is it someone I worked with? Someone I should remember? Am I such a terrible friend that I forgot about her completely?"
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Maakuth 5y ago
In Finland the system is similar, but recently changed in a somewhat entertaining way. The tax office used to publish a summary list of highest earning individuals for media's benefit. Then some politicians got involved and demanded that you should be able to deny being on that list. So now they compile a list of people who have denied the tax office from listing them. Turns out there's no legal grounds for keeping the other list secret, so the media gets a copy of that list through some sort of transparency request. They then ask the tax office for the income information for each of these people. So now the yearly "jealousy lists" are published with all the names just as before, but some names have an asterisk next to them, pinpointing that these people didn't want to be on the list.

Used to be? Is it no longer public?

by nafey 5y ago

Used to be? Is it no longer public?

Langdal 5y ago

It's still public, but now it is behind a login, and people can see who has looked at their tax info.

Nextgrid 5y ago
Out of interest, what would be a socially acceptable reason to lookup someone's info?
- skinkestek 5y ago
  Now: next to none. Before: anything. Everybody did it if they had the slightest reason if my observations were correct. Just like I remember Norwegians taking a sauna (those who had) with friends or family or showering before swimming or after exercise at school, nobody thought about the fact that they were naked between peers it seemed. Today every kid complains about showering at school and everyone are very secretive about their income records. This is just observation, not judgement. I think there are good reasons on both sides of both questions even if I am conservative as few (not American "conservative", I just think it is smart to change society slowly and thoughtfully).
  - Nextgrid 5y ago
    Yes that was my point. When it was publicly accessible for everyone there wasn't a problem, but now that the information has to be explicitly requested (and the subject is alerted and provided the requestor's details) I was curious as to whether there were still any socially-acceptable reasons to request that info.
    - skinkestek 5y ago
      The only I can think of is journalism and similar.
- orangepanda 5y ago
  Looking up colleagues' salary maybe?
- wannadingo 5y ago
  To enable ones own salary negotiations as a rational economic actor (TM)?

thatwasunusual 5y ago

It's semi-public. Previously, up until 2010-ish?, newspapers etc. could ask for the public tax records from the government and make them searchable. Now that's not possible, but they are free to list the 10-50-100 richest people in each municipality, the sports people earning the most, the business mean with the highest wealth or lowest tax etc. Everyone can still look up individuals, though, but they have to log in to a government portal to do it, _and_ the individual being looked up will be notified about it, and who did it.

0x7E3 5y ago
Looking up random strangers seems like a fun hobby. "Who is this person, and why is she looking me up? Is it someone I worked with? Someone I should remember? Am I such a terrible friend that I forgot about her completely?"

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

Maakuth 5y ago

In Finland the system is similar, but recently changed in a somewhat entertaining way. The tax office used to publish a summary list of highest earning individuals for media's benefit. Then some politicians got involved and demanded that you should be able to deny being on that list. So now they compile a list of people who have denied the tax office from listing them. Turns out there's no legal grounds for keeping the other list secret, so the media gets a copy of that list through some sort of transparency request. They then ask the tax office for the income information for each of these people. So now the yearly "jealousy lists" are published with all the names just as before, but some names have an asterisk next to them, pinpointing that these people didn't want to be on the list.