The council voted to increase regional income tax by 30 öre for every hundred kronor and also to increase patient fees and raise the price of a travel card on SL public transport.

According to the regional councillor for finance, Aida Hadzialic, the move will protect the healthcare service from having to make dramatic cuts.

“It’s about being able to look healthcare workers in the eye,” she told a press conference.

In Sweden income tax is highly decentralised, with most wage earners paying income tax only to their municipality and region. Only those who earn more than 598,500 kronor a year pay income tax to the state. 

The four parties’ budget for Stockholm region proposes that the patient fee for urgent care centres (närakuten) be raised from 250 kronor to 275 kronor, and the fee for outpatient care (öppenvården) would be hiked from 250 to 275 kronor.

Those with a 30-day pass on SL public transport would see the price of their pass increase by 50 kronor in 2024 and another 40 kronor in 2025, with the price of a single ticket going up by 3 kronor under the new proposal.

Hadzialic underlined the fact that the region is facing increased expenses of over ten billion kronor, with a range of measures necessary to plug the gap.

“All regions are currently struggling significantly with their finances, and that applies to the Stockholm region too,” she said.

Gustav Hemming, the regional councillor for climate, infrastructure and the archipelago, has accused the government of letting down regions.

“A tax increase of 30 öre in this situation is the alternative to chaos,” he wrote in a press statement. “The government’s betrayal of the regions has left us forced to choose between either firing healthcare workers en masse and closing healthcare centres, or raising taxes.”

The government did propose a ten billion kronor increase in regional and municipal funding in its budget for 2024, as well as a six billion increase in targeted support.

According to Hadzialic, that money is welcome, but nowhere near enough.

Opposition councillor Irene Svenonius, a member of the Moderates who are in government at the state level, is critical of the budget put forward by the majority in the Stockholm region.

“This is a twofold betrayal,” she wrote in a comment to TT newswire. “A tax increase of 30 öre and still, a budget which comes up over a billion kronor short. Stockholmers will have to pay more, but get less. This is not taking responsibility.”