Family Taxation as Tax Reduction : The Introduction of Income Splitting in Swedish Taxation, 1945–1952

Abstract

This paper deals with the introduction of marital aggregation and income splitting in Sweden in 1952. It is demonstrated that actors such as political parties, employers and white-collar unions embraced income splitting because it mitigated the effects of wage moderation and progressive income tax for most wage-earners. In this respect, we recognise that the income splitting reform was made at the expense of married women with high incomes. This result relates to previous research which has noted that women´s organizations and politicians representing women´s interests have functioned as 'policy takers', rather than 'policy-makers', in the Scandinavian corporatist system.