As shown in the section of the information hub dedicated to family firms, family firms are more prevalent in less central areas. There is significant variation in the wealth and wealth taxation of the owning families. In this section we present statistics on family firms with different levels of owner taxable wealth across various regions. The numbers are for 2021.
Paying the wealth tax is more likely to be a problem if the wealth is invested in illiquid investments, such as nonlisted family firms in less central areas.
We group firms in three brackets based on the largest owner:
- family firms, where a Norwegian family or individual has a majority stake,
- foreign owned firms – where foreign entities or individuals have a majority stake,
- state owned firms – where the state is the largest owners,
- other nonfamily firms, where no family or individual has a majority of the shares. We call this group “nonfamily” in the graphs below.
We further divide the family firms into eight wealth brackets (brackets 0-7, 7 is the wealthiest), where the largest family wealth is aggregated across all active family members (owners, board members, CEO).
- Group 0: negative net wealth;
- Group 1: net wealth between 0 and 500,000 kroner (adjusted for inflation, in 2023 kroner);
- Group 2: net wealth between 500,000 and 1,000,000 kroner;
- Group 3: net wealth between 1,000,000 and 5,000,000 kroner;
- Group 4: net wealth between 5,000,000 and 10,000,000 kroner;
- Group 5: net wealth between 10,000,000 and 50,000,000 kroner;
- Group 6: net wealth between 50,000,000 and 100,000,000 kroner;
- Group 7: net wealth above 100,000,000 kroner.
We also group firms into regions with different degrees of centrality based on the municipality where they are headquartered. The centrality measure we use is the SSB centrality index, where each firm headquarter is assigned a centrality score from the most rural area (6, for example Frøya) to the most central areas (1, the Oslo region).
We report statistics for the number of firms in each group, total assets, sales, employment, and value added (sum of company earning and labor expenses, that is the total income generated by the firm for labor and capital).
Looking at the number of firms, the proportions of each group of tax payers are not very different across regions. The most noticeable pattern is that the proportion of foreign firms is very small outside the large cities. A small number of firms are state-owned, but they tend to be relatively large - for instance Equinor or Telenor. The largest group of family firms is small firms where the owners do not pay the wealth tax - but tax payers are also well represented.



In terms of revenues and value added, the proportion of family firms increases with lower centrality, and most of the owners are wealth tax payers. Firms owned by families or individuals that do not pay the wealth tax are small, and as a result they represent a small proportion in all geographies. Firms owned by families and individuals that pay the wealth tax represent a large proportion of revenues and value added outside Oslo. Foreign ownership is most significant in central areas, especially in Oslo, but it represents a small proportion in outlying regions.






A similar pattern emerges for total assets, where – not surprisingly – higher owner net wealth is associated with higher firm assets, but of course also with higher tax payments.



Looking at employment in Norway, family firms with wealth yax paying owners are the dominant employer outside the large cities.



Controlling families that pay higher amounts in wealth tax are also wealthier. At the same time, however, the tax payment represents a larger portion of their liquid assets. That pattern does not change much with the geographical location.

The firms owned by families with larger wealth tax payments are more likely to pay dividends, and they pay out a larger share of their earnings. That can mean that, in the absence of sufficient personal liquidity, the family uses dividends from the family firm to cover the tax payment, triggering the dividend tax as well as the wealth tax.

