maid in fiskis

maid in fiskis, originally uploaded by John Barleycorn.

In Sweden there's a debate about tax deductible maids. Well, actually it's more of a right wing propaganda onslaught to promote maids. The Swedish Employers' Association, Svenskt Näringsliv contributed to this debate on March 2 in the conservative Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. The headline was "The Maid is a success in Europe" and they claimed that these so called household services are supposed to solve every problem in society. They are supported by liberal and right wing editorials that also asserts that these services will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs. Now the lazy hordes of the unemployed will be transformed into obedient domestic workers. Huge amounts of money will be saved for the already rich and wealthy. And as always the poor will stay poor. If you read the same newspaper on page 6 you'll find a very small notice that says:
"Fewer jobs than expected were the result when the Finnish system with tax deductible maids were evaluated. The tax deduction were realized four years ago and has created 2000 full time jobs. (...) The system has cost the Finnish government more than 88 million Euro."
Wow! That's capitalism promoted by the rich! 88 million Euro of the tax payers money to create 2000 cheap maids for the wealthy! What a success story!!