IT&Telecom companies comment on the state budget for 2011

This year's budget proposal is gratifying from an IT perspective! In addition to the fact that there is now a minister responsible, the budget also contains wording on the use of IT in several sections, for example in the justice system and culture. This is something that we have been calling for for a long time, as it is precisely in the progressive use of IT that we get the major positive effects.

We are particularly pleased with the government's statements about developing a coherent strategy for IT, a Swedish "digital agenda". This is an excellent initiative, and now (finally!) shows a clear realization that IT provides society with both development opportunities and competitiveness. It also gives us better opportunities to push these issues within the EU.

However, we lack concrete measures in a number of different areas. First and foremost, it is about efforts to get more people included in the digital society - today there are still more than a million adults who never or rarely use the Internet. It is also noted that we are worse than many other countries at using IT in schools, but despite this, there is no policy to address this within the Ministry of Education.

Finally, as expected, we note that the deduction for household IT services, known as the RIT deduction, is not mentioned in the bill. Although both C and KD have expressed their approval, we have not managed to convince the entire alliance that it is actually a cost-effective way to create more jobs for young people and increase knowledge about IT. However, we will continue to work for a RIT deduction to become a reality during this term of office.