Triss in profits Löfven!
Last Friday, the Digitalization Commission published its interim report on digital skills(Make Sweden Future, SOU 2015:28). As is often the case, the Commission presents a solid report: 171 pages describe the current situation and the challenges we face, as well as proposals for ways forward.
The proposals can be boiled down to four: analyze the development of digital skills in higher education and propose measures to further develop them, analyze the gender balance in IT education and propose measures to achieve a better gender balance, introduce digital service centers in all municipalities where residents can turn to develop their digital skills, and introduce a tax reduction for skills-enhancing initiatives for digital skills at home. All four are important and good proposals, but the latter is of course particularly interesting and positive, we think, because it is something that we from the industry have been working for for several years!
Tax deductions for kitchen renovation, cleaning and window cleaning in the home have opened up for black services to become white, created many new jobs and simplified life and the everyday puzzle for many. The fact that the current government still does not seem to see the benefits of these tax reductions - for society, for business and for the individual - is extremely sad to note. What we are hoping for now is that this does not mean that this new proposal will be rejected out of hand.
Because, as the Commission explains in the recital of its proposal, digitalization is affecting everything and everyone - and everyone's everyday life. To an ever-increasing extent. And it is happening fast. Very fast. We welcome this development, but we also know that knowledge is needed to ensure that we really take advantage of the opportunities and positive effects of digitization.
It is imperative that as many people as possible raise their level of digital literacy - not least to be able to absorb social information that is increasingly delivered digitally. So where does that knowledge stand? Not very well. According to a Demoskop survey, conducted in December 2013 on behalf of Almega, 20 percent of Swedes say that they miss out on information online, that they cannot use online banking and that they cannot buy goods and tickets online either. This is due to ignorance or computer problems.
The same Demoskop survey shows that two out of three respondents are in favor of the introduction of a tax reduction for IT services in the home, and that one in three would use it themselves. It also shows that people aged 65 and over are more supportive of the reduction, and would be even more likely than average to use such services.
A tax reduction for IT services in the home would - in addition to helping to solve the knowledge challenge - also create positive employment effects. The Digitization Commission refers to its own calculations showing that a tax reduction would generate almost 1,300 new jobs. Our calculations, also based on the aforementioned Demoskop survey, show rather around 2,800 new full-time jobs. Moreover, these jobs would be predominantly for young people, which would help to reduce youth unemployment. Win-win!
Demand is therefore high, and skills are available. Managing and counteracting digital exclusion is an extremely important and urgent social issue that the government should take very seriously. With a tax reduction for IT services in the home, we reduce the digital gaps in society and thus strengthen Sweden's ability to take advantage of the opportunities of digitization. At the same time, we create new jobs.
Win-win-win!
The Löfven government - you have a golden opportunity to take advantage of these gains and implement the report's proposals. If Sweden is to be the best in the world at taking advantage of the opportunities of digitalization, it is important that everyone also has the knowledge to adopt digital technology and digital services. A tax reduction is a very good step towards the goal and to secure the gold position.