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Ojämlikhet, skatter och media

Eriksson, Frida LU (2025) STVM25 20251
Department of Political Science
Abstract
Inequality has been rising in most countries, with Sweden being one of the Western countries where this increase has been most pronounced. One contributing factor is the series of reforms in capital taxation, which have positioned Sweden among the countries with the lowest taxes on capital worldwide. This study examines how Swedish media framed the repeal of property, wealth, inheritance, and gift taxes. It does so by measuring the frequency of frames that previous research has identified as crucial in understanding the support of these tax cuts. These frames are inequality framing (focusing on income distribution), economic framing (highlighting positive economic effects), and fiscal framing (addressing public finances and tax policy). My... (More)
Inequality has been rising in most countries, with Sweden being one of the Western countries where this increase has been most pronounced. One contributing factor is the series of reforms in capital taxation, which have positioned Sweden among the countries with the lowest taxes on capital worldwide. This study examines how Swedish media framed the repeal of property, wealth, inheritance, and gift taxes. It does so by measuring the frequency of frames that previous research has identified as crucial in understanding the support of these tax cuts. These frames are inequality framing (focusing on income distribution), economic framing (highlighting positive economic effects), and fiscal framing (addressing public finances and tax policy). My findings challenge previous research, which suggests that support for tax cuts is driven by the absence of inequality framing and fiscal framing in media, alongside the presence of economic framing. Instead, inequality framing was dominant in my study, while economic framing appeared to a lesser degree, and, in line with previous research, the fiscal framing was largely absent. This suggests that the media frames on inequality, economy and fiscal policy might not have such a strong effect on public support for tax cuts as previous research ascribed to them. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Eriksson, Frida LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
En framinganalys av rapporteringen kring kapitalskatter
course
STVM25 20251
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Media, framing, tax, inequality
language
Swedish
id
9186293
date added to LUP
2025-04-23 10:15:48
date last changed
2025-04-23 10:15:48
@misc{9186293,
  abstract     = {{Inequality has been rising in most countries, with Sweden being one of the Western countries where this increase has been most pronounced. One contributing factor is the series of reforms in capital taxation, which have positioned Sweden among the countries with the lowest taxes on capital worldwide. This study examines how Swedish media framed the repeal of property, wealth, inheritance, and gift taxes. It does so by measuring the frequency of frames that previous research has identified as crucial in understanding the support of these tax cuts. These frames are inequality framing (focusing on income distribution), economic framing (highlighting positive economic effects), and fiscal framing (addressing public finances and tax policy). My findings challenge previous research, which suggests that support for tax cuts is driven by the absence of inequality framing and fiscal framing in media, alongside the presence of economic framing. Instead, inequality framing was dominant in my study, while economic framing appeared to a lesser degree, and, in line with previous research, the fiscal framing was largely absent. This suggests that the media frames on inequality, economy and fiscal policy might not have such a strong effect on public support for tax cuts as previous research ascribed to them.}},
  author       = {{Eriksson, Frida}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Ojämlikhet, skatter och media}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}