Review of the taxi industry

The plan identifies wage dumping, economic crime, and exploitation as central threats and wants to close the space to exploit people's vulnerable positions. The counter-proposal's requirement for a review of the entire taxi industry, stricter controls of apps, and requirements for taximeter integration target precisely that: actors who escape employer responsibility and press down wages. The plan also sees fraud as something that drives out legitimate businesses.

• stop wage dumpingdecisive»Lönedumpning, ekonomisk brottslighet och utnyttjande är centrala hot idag.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Wage dumping, economic crime, and exploitation are central threats today.”
• close the exploitation space»Vi vill täppa till det utrymme som finns idag att exploatera människors utsatta ställning.« (party programme ↗)“We want to close the space that exists today to exploit people's vulnerable positions.”
• against gig work without responsibility»Otryggheten skapas genom tillfälliga anställningar, sms-jobb, gig-jobb, deltidsjobb och bemanningsjobb.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Insecurity is created through temporary employment, SMS jobs, gig jobs, part-time jobs, and temporary staffing jobs.”
• fraud drives out legitimate businesses»Det fifflet leder till att seriösa företag slås ut och skatteintäkter uteblir.« (party programme ↗)“That trick leads to legitimate businesses being driven out and tax revenues disappearing.”

The plan requires action against workplace crime and establishes that no one shall be able to gain competitive advantage through neglecting employees' conditions. A review of the entire taxi sector with stricter rules and controls, including of app-based actors not taking employer responsibility, is precisely that commitment. The plan also defends collective agreements as norm and wants to stop tax cheating.

• fair competition in the labour marketdecisive»Det ska aldrig löna sig att begå brott eller skaffa sig konkurrensfördelar genom att försumma de anställdas rätt till en trygg arbetsmiljö.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“It shall never pay to commit crime or gain competitive advantage by neglecting employees' right to a safe working environment.”
• against workplace crime»Krafttag mot arbetslivskriminaliteten.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Action against workplace crime.”
• collective agreements as norm»Kollektivavtal som norm, försvar av den svenska modellen.« (party programme ↗)“Collective agreements as norm, defence of the Swedish model.”
• stopped tax cheating»Skattefusk, välfärdsbrottslighet och penningtvätt ska stoppas.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Tax cheating, welfare crime and money laundering shall be stopped.”

The plan requires that gig workers are covered by the same working environment rules and right to collective agreements as other employees and that the state ensures regulations so that markets function well, rather than unregulated markets. The counter-proposal's requirement for a review of the taxi industry with tightened rules and controls of app-based players is a direct expression of this. The requirements for taximeter integration and measures against fraud also accord with the plan's requirements for striking against tax evasion and economic crime.

• equal conditions for gig workersdecisive»som arbetar inom gigekonomin ska omfattas av samma arbetsmiljöregler« (party programme ↗)“who work within the gig economy shall be covered by the same working environment rules”
• the state regulates markets»Staten ska säkerställa att det finns regelverk och institutioner« (party programme ↗)“The state shall ensure there are regulations and institutions”
• insecure working conditions must be countered»Otryggheten på arbetsmarknaden har ökat.« (party programme ↗)“Insecurity in the labour market has increased.”
• hard against economic crime»restauranger som missköter hygien, skattebrott och varenda spelautomat som saknar tillstånd« (2022 manifesto ↗)“restaurants that breach hygiene, tax evasion and every gaming machine that lacks permission”

The counter-proposal's starting point is that deregulation of the taxi industry has gone too far and that the regulatory framework should be tightened. The plan goes the opposite way: competition is a driver, the market economy should be free from centrally planned guidance and the regulatory thicket should be cleared. The plan does want a crackdown on criminality that harms serious businesses, which gives some support for the oversight part.

• competition as a driverdecisive»Konkurrens är en viktig drivkraft för utvecklingen av marknadsekonomin.« (party programme ↗)“Competition is an important driver of the development of the market economy.”
• fewer rules for business»Rensa upp i regelträsket för entreprenörer, stora som små.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Clear up the regulatory thicket for entrepreneurs, large and small.”
• crackdown on fraud and crime»en pålitlig infrastruktur i hela landet, satsningar på forskning och utveckling och krafttag mot brott emot företag« (2022 manifesto ↗)“a reliable infrastructure throughout the country, investment in research and development and action against crime against businesses”

flags: citat_blockerat

The plan welcomes the sharing economy and wants to quickly remove obstacles for businesses and people to take advantage of technical development, with rules that make it easy to do right and secure competition on fair terms. The counter-proposal's starting point that deregulation has gone too far, with stricter regulations and new technical requirements on app-based actors, goes against that line. The plan shares the ambition to counter cheating, which makes the assessment uncertain.

• rules for sharing economydecisive»Vi vill ha spelregler som gör det lätt att göra rätt och säkerställer konkurrens på rättvisa villkor även i digitaliseringens och delningsekonomins tid.« (party programme ↗)“We want rules that make it easy to do right and ensure competition on fair terms also in the time of digitalization and sharing economy.”
• embrace sharing economy»En startup-kommission ska tillsättas och skattesystemet anpassas bättre till den växande delningsekonomin.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“A startup commission shall be established and the tax system adapted better to the growing sharing economy.”
• remove obstacles for new technology»Politikens uppgift måste vara att snabbt undanröja hinder för att underlätta för företag och människor att ta vara på de möjligheter som den tekniska utvecklingen skapar.« (party programme ↗)“Politics' task must be to quickly remove obstacles to facilitate for businesses and people to take advantage of the opportunities that technical development creates.”
• reduced regulatory burden»Regelbördan för små företag ska minska, genom ansträngningar på både kommunal, statlig och europeisk nivå, och offentliga beslut analyseras ur småföretagarperspektiv.« (party programme ↗)“The regulatory burden on small businesses shall decrease, through efforts at municipal, state and European level, and public decisions analyzed from a small business perspective.”

The plan gives the state the role of supervising that legislation and good ethics are maintained in the market and requires that unfair competition be countered, which supports the counter-proposal's demand for stricter rules and controls against fraud in the taxi industry. The fact that all crimes shall be prosecuted without exception argues for an evaluation of the regulatory framework against tax evasion and for technical requirements such as integrated booking apps. The plan's requirement for long-term rules for companies at the same time calls for care in the design.

• the state supervises market ethicsdecisive»Statens roll i näringspolitiken är att övervaka att lagstiftningen och en god etik upprätthålls« (party programme ↗)“The state's role in industry policy is to supervise that legislation and good ethics are maintained”
• against unfair competition»konkurrenspolitik motverkar oligopol, monopol och illojal konkurrens.« (party programme ↗)“competition policy counters oligopolies, monopolies and unfair competition.”
• all crimes shall be prosecuted»Alla brott ska effektivt och utan undantag beivras« (party programme ↗)“All crimes shall be effectively and without exception prosecuted”
• long-term ground rules»Det är viktigt att de regler staten ställer upp för företagen är långsiktiga.« (party programme ↗)“It is important that the rules the state sets for companies are long-term.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The counter-proposal's starting point is that the deregulation of the taxi industry has gone too far and the framework should be tightened, whereas the plan instead wants to remove a third of the red tape and give entrepreneurial freedom strong protection. The plan does share the view that the rule of law must fully protect entrepreneurs against crime, which speaks for checks against fraud but not for re-regulation. Taken together, the plan does not support the counter-proposal's demand.

• reduced red tapedecisive»Ta bort en tredjedel av företagens administrationskostnader och en tredjedel av regelkrånglet« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Remove a third of companies' administrative costs and a third of red tape”
• protection for entrepreneurial freedom»Äganderätten och näringsfriheten ska ha ett starkt skydd i« (party programme ↗)“Property rights and entrepreneurial freedom should have strong protection in”
• the rule of law protects entrepreneurs»Det är ett grundläggande politiskt ansvar att rättsstaten finns där med sin fulla kraft när företagare blir utsatta för brott.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“It is a fundamental political responsibility that the rule of law is there with its full force when entrepreneurs are subjected to crime.”
• restraint with regulation»Statliga ingripanden är långt ifrån alltid« (party programme ↗)“State interventions are far from always”

The plan wants to counter fraud and systems that encourage fraud and corruption, combat crime that harms entrepreneurs, and introduce real labour market testing so that cheap labour is not imported to occupations with low qualification requirements. The counter-proposal's demand for tightened regulations and controls in the taxi industry, including app-based actors, responds to these commitments. The plan's general demand for regulatory simplification pulls in a different direction but weighs less when it comes to measures against fraud and crime.

• real labour market testingdecisive»För arbetstillstånd behöver Sverige införa en riktig arbetsmarknadsprövning för att förhindra att arbetsgivare importerar billig arbetskraft från fattiga länder för att utföra yrken som kräver liten eller ingen utbildning.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“For work permits, Sweden needs to introduce real labour market testing to prevent employers from importing cheap labour from poor countries to perform occupations that require little or no education.”
• counter fraud and corruption»Både fusk och sådana system som tenderar att locka till fusk och korruption ska motverkas.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Both fraud and systems that tend to encourage fraud and corruption shall be countered.”
• protection against crime against entrepreneurs»Bekämpa brottslighet som drabbar företagare« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Combat crime that harms entrepreneurs”
• regulatory simplification»Verka för regelförenkling och avlasta småföretagens administrativa börda« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Work towards regulatory simplification and ease small enterprises' administrative burden”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.