Publications / Reports / 2003 / 2003:009 Samvirkebeskatningen i Norge
Samvirkebeskatningen i Norge
ISBN print: 82-7763-184-7
Pages: 239
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This report describes and analyses the development of taxation of co-operatives in Norway from the late 19th century to a Supreme Court decision in 2001. The tax laws of 1911 meant that co-operatives within agricultu-re and consumer unions had a distinct taxation regime until the tax reform of 2001. The taxation regime meant that co-operatives within these sectors, extended to fisheries in 1931 and timber-sales unions in 1949, were not taxed according to the profits of accounts as for other firms. The taxable income of co-operatives was defined as a percentage of the assessed taxable wealth (percentage taxation).The introduction of the taxation regime was motivated by a political wish to encourage co-operatives as such in selected parts of economy in the beginning the 20th century. Politicians acknowledged that ordinary taxation according to accounts could not be directly applied to co-operatives due to their particular organisa-tional characteristics. The taxation of consumer co-operatives was the most controversial part of the taxation regime. The attempts by commercial interests to change it failed in the inter-war period however. Despite the fact that the defenders of the taxation regime emphasised the organisational particularities of co-operatives firms, they never proposed equal taxation rules for all co-operative firms regardless of sector. When the system of percentage taxation was abolished in 1992, it was replaced by a tax free reserve fund treated as a commonly owned equity. This represented a continuation of taxation benefits. The aim of the report has not been to quantify taxation benefits. Evidence indicates that tax benefits in rela-tion to joint stock companies increased from the 1920s to the 1970s. Tax benefits nevertheless hardly repre-sented any decisive explanation as to the success of co-operatives in the primary industries and in the trade of groceries.