Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Thursday​on August 14, 2025 at 6:22 am

Centre Party calls for Sweden to bring in a tourist tax 

Centre Party business spokesperson Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist has called for municipalities in Sweden to be permitted to impose a tourist tax to compensate for the burden of tourism on infrastructure and municipal finances. 

“About 60 percent of each tourist krona goes to the state,” Thand Ringqvist said in a TV debate with Sweden’s financial markets minister Niklas Wykman on Wednesday night, before arguing that the tax would help share the benefits with local communities. 

“The tourism industry is incredibly important to Sweden. I listen and I hear that the threat to growth in the tourism industry is not more tourists, but an enraged local population who don’t think they are getting to share the benefits.” 

Norway’s parliament this year passed a law allowing municipalities with a lot of tourism to levy a 3 percent fee on overnight stays on cruise ships and in hotels. 

Wykman argued that a tourist tax would reduce the number of tourists and as a result damage Sweden’s tourism industry. 

Swedish vocabulary: förbannad – enraged 

Climate change made northern Sweden heatwave 2C hotter

The global meteorological research network, World Weather Attribution, has estimated that climate change caused by human activity made the two-week heatwave that hit northern Sweden this summer about 2C hotter. 

The towns of Haparanda and Jokkmokk saw their longest heat waves in over 100 years and Pajala saw its highest ever recorded temperature, something WWA has now said is clearly linked to global warming. 

“Our estimate is that the heat wave was about 2C warmer than it would have been without climate change and similar events are at least ten times more common now than they would be in a climate without warming caused by human activity,” Amalie Skålevåg, a climate researcher at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (NMI), said. 

The study was done by 24 researchers from universities and meteorological institutes in Finland, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands, the UK and the US. 

Swedish vocabulary: en uppskattning – an estimate

Use of ‘rotavdrag’ tax break for building work and renovations still rising 

The use of rotavdrag, the tax break for employing workers like electricians, painters and decorators, and other builders, continued to increase in July, rising by 18 percent year on year. 

The government increased the tax break from 30 percent to 50 percent of labour costs in May, hoping to spark the building industry back into life and reduce unemployment. 

Since then 475,000 people have had rotavdrag accepted, 70,000 more than the same period last year. The average rotavdrag payment in July was around 11,000 kronor.

Swedish vocabulary: det genomsnittliga beloppet  – the average payout 

High street fashion sales rose in July

Sales of high-street fashion rose rapidly in July, with sales of shoes up 12.1 percent and clothes up 4.4 percent compared to July last year, according to the monthly Stilindex from Swedish Commerce (Svensk Handel). The low cost segment of the clothes market rose by 9 percent, while the high-end segment fell by 4.1 percent.

“Consumers’ purchasing power remains at a low level, which means that companies with a low-price focus are seeing an increased influx of customers,” says Sofia Larsen, CEO of Svensk Handel, in a press release. Sales of women’s clothing and women’s shoes rose by 7 percent and 15.9 percent respectively.

Swedish vocabulary: modehandeln – sales of high street fashion