Jens Friis Møller - Personal Site

New blog entry - "Unfair tax reliefs?"

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 02:03:19 +0200

Some of the mayor issues these days in Danish politics is taxes and welfare and with the upcoming election (hopefully soon) the lines have been drawn in the sand. For some reason the parties on the left, most of all the Danish Social Democrats, has gotten the idea that welfare and tax relief’s are two opposites and not something that can go hand in hand in the Danish society. Furthermore they make an effort to emphasize that tax relief’s for the high income part of the Danish population is outrageous and will only be on the benefit of “poor” part of the Danes. The question is if this argument holds? I don’t think so and I came across the text below (in Danish - sorry!) the other day which in my opinion makes an excellent point.

Her kan du se om du forstår, hvad der er det rigtige:
“Regeringens skatteplan er en blankocheck til de højtlønnede danskere, mens folk på overførselsindkomster bliver ladt i stikken. Det mener Socialdemokraterne, der fastholder deres politiske strategi frem mod næste folketingsvalg: Danskerne skal vælge mellem mere velfærd eller skattelettelser.”

Historien nedenfor sætter udtalelsen i perspektiv:
“Her er historien om ti personer, der hver dag går ud på restaurant og spiser middag sammen. Den fælles regning på restauranten ender hver dag på 1.000 kroner, og de ti deler den op på nogenlunde samme måde, som vi betaler skatter her i landet. De første fire - de fattigste - skal derfor ikke betale noget. Den femte skal betale 10 kroner, den sjette 30 kroner, den syvende 70 kroner, den ottende 120 kroner og den niende 180 kroner. Den tiende, den rigeste af dem, skal betale 590 kroner.

Rod med rabatten:
Sådan spiser de sammen hver dag, og alle er de glade for den måde, de deler regningen på. Lige ind til restauratøren pludselig giver dem rabat.

»Eftersom I er så gode kunder,« siger han, »giver jeg jer 200 kroner i rabat på jeres middage.« En middag for ti personer koster derefter 800 kroner.

Gruppen vil stadig betale regningen på samme måde, som vi betaler skatter her i landet. Så de første fire bliver ikke påvirket: De skal stadig ikke betale.

Men hvad med de seks andre - dem som betaler - hvad skal de gøre? Hvordan skal de fordele rabatten på 200 kroner, så alle får en lige del? Og nu skal man holde ørene stive: De finder ud af, at 200 kroner divideret med seks bliver til 33,33 kroner. Hvis de trækker det beløb fra hver persons andel, skal den femte og sjette person have penge for at spise. Restauratøren foreslår, at det mest rimelige vil være at reducere hver person regning omtrent jævnt, og han sætter sig til at regne på, hvad hver person skal betale. Resultatet bliver, at også den femte person kan spise gratis, den sjette skal betale 20 kroner, den syvende 50 kroner, den ottende 90 kroner, den niende 120 kroner. Den tiende skal betale 520 kroner i stedet for de 590.

Alle seks personer får en lavere pris end tidligere, og de fire første kan fortsat spise gratis. Men så er det, at én i selskabet begynder at sammenligne, hvad de hver især har sparet. De står uden får restauranten. »Jeg fik kun 10 kroner af de 200 kroner,« begynder den sjette person og peger på den tiende. »Men du tjente 70.« »Præcis,« siger den femte person. »Jeg sparede også bare en 10´er. Det er uretfærdigt, at han fik syv gange mere end mig!« »Det er sandt,« råber den syvende person. »Hvorfor skal han have 70 kroner, når jeg kun fik 20? De rige skal altid have det bedre!!!« »Hør et øjeblik,« forsøger de fire første. »Vi fik jo overhovedet ingenting. Det her system udnytter de fattige.« De ni personer omringer den tiende og g iver ham tæsk.

Næste aften kommer han slet ikke til middagen, men de ni andre sætter sig til bordet og spiser uden at vente på den tiende. Da regningen kommer, opdager de noget. Der mangler 520 kroner… !!

New pictures added - "Family Challenge in Sweden"

Wed, 5 Sep 2007 22:11:16 +0200

This weekend I was with the family in Sweden to the yearly family challenge. The stakes were high when the families fighted it out in such sports as orange shooting, axe throwing, rifle shooting, golf, box climbing, canoing and alternative soccer.

See the pictures here:

About section updated - curriculum vitae added

Sun, 2 Sep 2007 01:21:48 +0200

Finally I got the About section updated. You can now find a bit of information about me and I furthermore added my Curriculum Vitae.

New blog entry - "The odds are here"

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 01:18:15 +0200

There are many rumours about an upcoming election in Denmark these days and today I found the first odds on the matter at Unibet. The odds on who is going to be the next prime minister are as follows:

Anders Fogh Rasmussen - 1.35
Helle Thorning Schmidt - 2.75
Bendt Bendtsen - 18.00
Margrethe Vestager - 20.00
Naser Khader - 22.00
Connie Hedegaard - 40.00
Lars Løkke Rasmussen - 50.00
Villy Søvndahl - 200.00
Pia Kjærsgaard - 500.00

So now it is just to sit back and wait for the election. I got my money on Mr. Anders Fogh Rasmussen. I just hope he is going to follow through with the tax reliefs especially on the top-bracket tax - the so called "topskat".

New book review - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 12:11:59 +0200

Finally it came. The last book in the saga of Harry Potter. Like everyone else I was really looking forward to it and read in a couple of days when I finally got a hold of it (it’s unbelievable to me, that it can be sold out from the publisher. What did they expect?). Anyway it fully lived up to my expectations. Some great twists although the ending might have been missing a bit in unpredictability.

New book review - Blekingegadebanden by Peter Øvig Knudsen

Tue, 7 Aug 2007 12:05:46 +0200

This book is amazing. It's a non-fiction book about what we today would call a terror cell. The cell worked in Denmark through the 60's and 70's at the same time and with the same goal as for instance Rote Armé Fraction in Germany. Øvig Knudsen gives an excellent presentation of the groups engagements and the reasons behind their actions as well as how they kept the police in the dark for over two decades. Its Danish crime history brilliantly presented. This is the first of two volumes about the group. Read it!

Readings section added

Sat, 4 Aug 2007 22:56:16 +0200

A new section was added. In the future you can see which books I have in my collection and are reading at the moment. Furthermore you can see reviews of the books I read. All in the new Readings section.