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Norway’s former university minister has dissertation pulled for cheating

Norway's former higher education minister, who resigned in January over plagiarism allegations, has had her masters dissertation annulled by her alma mater due to "cheating", her political party said on Thursday.

Published: 14 March 2024 16:12 CET

Pictured is the Norwegian parliament.

File photo of Norway's parliament Norway's former higher education minister, who resigned in January over plagiarism allegations, has had her masters dissertation annulled by her alma mater due to "cheating", her political party said on Thursday. (Photo by KYRRE LIEN / AFP)

Sandra Borch, who had been minister since 2023, announced her resignation in January after a student revealed similarities between her 2014 dissertation and other works, notably those of two other students.

The University of Tromsæ decided, after investigating the matter, to annul the dissertation, which focused on safety regulations in the oil industry, the
parliamentary group of Borch’s Centre Party said.

“Borch cheated and the results of her dissertation have to be annulled,” the university commission ruled, cited by the party in its statement.

“I made a mistake and was negligent, and I will of course bear the consequences,” Borch said in a statement, adding that she would not contest the decision.

Business student Kristoffer Rytterager, who revealed the plagiarism, claimed that Borch had left in typing mistakes when, among other things, lifting word for word a passage from another dissertation.

The 27-year-old student, whose revelations were widely covered in Norwegian media, said he had scrutinised her work because of his irritation over her
hard line on plagiarism as minister.

Her ministry had taken to the Supreme Court the case of a student who had been cleared on appeal of self-plagiarism for using passages of her own past work without citing them.

The ministry denied harassing the student but argued it wanted the country’s high court to rule on what exactly constitutes academic plagiarism.

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Will Norway's new exit tax slow the exodus of ultra-rich from the country?

Industrialist Kjell Inge Røkke, former cross-country ski legend Bjørn Dæhlie, and the father of football star Erling Haaland are among the dozens of super-wealthy who have packed up and left in recent years.

The reason? The centre-left government in power since 2021 has hiked the wealth tax from 0.85 percent to one percent — and to 1.1 percent for the very wealthiest — and raised the dividend tax.

Norway, Spain and Switzerland are the only European countries that have a tax on net wealth. In Norway it also applies to unrealised capital gains (gains not yet realised through the sale of shares, for example).

Owners of companies are among those hit hardest, often drawing a modest salary even though their company has a high value.

“If your salary is one million and you have to pay three million in (wealth) tax, it’s clear that it’s untenable,” said Tord Ueland Kolstad, a real estate magnate who “grudgingly” moved to Lucerne, Switzerland in 2022.

“The system is designed so that it confiscates more than what you can produce,” he said.

To pay a wealth tax which can exceed their yearly income, entrepreneurs often need to take out dividends, hampering their company’s capacity to invest.

And those dividends are also subject to a tax rate of 37.84 percent.

“So basically you have two options: either leave Norway, or sell your company,” said Kolstad.

‘Breach of the social contract’

Between 2021 and 2023, more than 100 of Norway’s wealthiest people went into exile, with the large majority relocating to Switzerland.

Others transferred their wealth to heirs already residing abroad, as Norway does not have inheritance tax.

Labour Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has criticised the mini-exodus, stressing that taxes are what pay for Norway’s generous welfare system.

“When you’ve made your wealth in Norway, put your kids in school, benefitted from the health care system, driven on the roads and reaped the rewards of its research, it’s a breach of the social contract,” he said in a speech in parliament.

The government is now working to tighten the country’s “exit tax”.

People who move abroad would have 12 years to pay the exit tax — also 37.84 percent of gains made in Norway from shares and other sources over many years — that has until now been easy to circumvent or defer.

“The aim is that gains made in Norway be taxed in Norway,” explained Erlend Grimstad, a state secretary in the finance ministry.

“Our nurses and teachers have to hand over a large share of their earnings to society in the form of taxes,” he said.

“If they see that the most well-off can simply avoid contributing their share by leaving the country, that undermines the legitimacy of the tax system.”

‘Don’t come to Norway’

That does little to quell the anger of the ultra-rich.

Christer Dalsbøe, who started his own company, made buzz on social media recently singing a little ditty discouraging other entrepreneurs from starting businesses in the country.

“Don’t come to Norway, We will tax you till you’re poor. And when you have nothing left, We will tax you a little more,” he sang, sitting at a piano.

The liberal think tank Civita said the government’s plans to tighten the “exit tax” were in reality aimed at setting up roadblocks for millionaires and billionaires.

“Instead of attacking the reasons that push them into exile, meaning easing the tax burden on Norwegian shareholders, they seem to prefer to set up regulatory obstacles,” said Civita economist Mathilde Fasting.

In Lucerne, Tord Ueland Kolstad said he can receive “several calls a week” from other Norwegians considering moving to Switzerland.

“The flow has not stopped. Maybe it is just beginning.”

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