Updated figures from General government revenue and expenditure show that revenues increased by NOK 198 billion from 2022 to 2023, excluding current taxes and distributed income from petroleum companies. One third of the increase is explained by higher taxes from households and Mainland corporations. Two thirds were a result of surging interest, dividends and other property income – mainly from the financial assets of the Government Pension Fund Global.
Reduced tax burden
When assessing the tax burden, the sum of value added tax and other taxes on production, taxes on income and wealth and net social contributions is often compared to GDP. In this context, GDP represents an approximation of the total tax base. Petroleum activities contribute to substantial export revenues for the national economy and subsequent taxes to the government – but these are merely temporary transactions. When the Norwegian tax burden is computed, the petroleum sector is usually excluded.
Total taxes in 2023 corresponded to 42.8 per cent of GDP Mainland Norway. This is noticeably lower than the average rate in the period from 2007 to 2023, which was 43.4 per cent.
Steady burden for personal taxpayers
In figure 3, total taxes are grouped into six broad categories. The largest category is tax income and wealth from personal taxpayers. Adding employees’ social contributions, these taxes equaled 18.2 per cent of GDP in 2023 – roughly in line with the average rate from 2007 to 2019. Visible is the spike in taxes from personal taxpayers in 2021. This temporary tax increase was due to exceptional dividends from Norwegian companies.
Taxes on products down – company taxes up
Taxes on production and consumption, excluding the value-added tax, amounted to 3.3 of GDP in 2023 – a sizeable reduction compared to the levels prior to 2010. The decrease is mainly explained by lower taxes on motor vehicles due to tax exemptions on electric cars. In addition, taxes on mineral oil, chocolate goods and sweets and non-alcoholic beverages have all been abolished in recent years.
Revenues from company taxes usually fluctuates more than other tax revenues. This tax category is the sum of ordinary company tax, special tax on the profits of financial institutions and ground rent tax from energy producers and aquaculture industries. Company taxes rose to high levels in 2022, particularly due to extraordinary profits in the production of hydroelectricity.
Net lending down, but still exceptional
In updated data on quarterly revenue and expenditure, total government surplus for the last four quarters amounted to NOK 683 billion. This is NOK 300 billion less than the corresponding period one year ago. The reduction is explained by a decline in petroleum revenues – mostly due to lower prices on natural gas and crude oil.
Like many European countries, Norway aimed for a revision of the national accounts and government finance statistics in 2024. The revision of the non-financial accounts is now put on hold and planned for release in November and December 2025.