Sweden: Municipality that took too many migrants faces bankruptcy
The Swedish municipality of Bengtsfors has been forced to petition the national government for aid
Friday 09 August - The Swedish municipality of Bengtsfors has petitioned the national government for aid due to massive costs incurred taking in more migrants than the municipality could afford.
Local Moderate Party politician Stig Bertilsson said the multi-page letter was clear in identifying the cause of the budget deficit as being related to the large number of 'new Swedes' taken in and requested aid to cover the costs.
'Costs in municipalities that have received new arrivals have continued to be substantial even when government revenues have stopped. This creates a large negative hole in the municipal cash register,' Bertilsson said.
When asked about tax revenues from new migrants that could bridge the deficit gap, Bertilsson said that in the long run he hoped there would be a rise in revenues but so far there has not been one, adding that the Swedish labour market 'has a long way to go'.
Unemployment figures for migrants in Sweden are in fact much higher than those for native Swedes, with a report last summer showing a 19.9 per cent unemployment rate for migrants compared to just 3.6 per cent for natives.
In the letter to the national government, the local government claims that raising taxes to cover the costs will not be a solution as local tax rates are already high at 22.9 per cent, the tenth-highest overall in Sweden.
Last year, a report from the Swedish National Institute of Economic Research (KI) claimed that many municipalities across the country would be forced to raise taxes, specifically stating mass migration costs as the reason.
Author's comment: Most Western countries experience a net negative benefit in financial terms due to immigration from Third World countries. When one considers that 80-85% of migrants into Europe are not refugees as the media would like us to believe, and that many of them have no intention of ever working for a living, it's not surprising that local municipalities go bankrupt.
Like the proverbial canary in the coal-mine, what happens in Sweden will happen over here eventually if nothing is done.
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