Preliminary figures from General government revenue and expenditure show historically strong increase in revenues in 2022. This is related to extensive export of crude oil and natural gas. A prominent share of petroleum export revenues accrues to government through taxes and withdrawals from corporations engaged in petroleum extraction.
Total petroleum revenues for the general government sector in 2022 is estimated at NOK 1,457 billion – by far the highest ever recorded in the statistics. Through ordinary tax and special tax from oil companies, it is estimated that the state collected NOK 884 billion, which is nearly triple compared to 2021. The revenues from the state's direct ownership in oil and gas fields, pipelines, and onshore facilities, known as SDFI, were also historically high in 2022. The operating surplus in SDFI was approximately NOK 530 billion. The corresponding figure for 2021 was 182 billion.
Temporary increase in non-petroleum taxes
Even with historically high revenues from the petroleum sector, taxes from households and businesses were still the largest source of revenue for the government in 2022. These taxes are estimated at NOK 1,580 billion, which corresponds to just over 44 percent of mainland Norway's GDP. The share is lower than in 2021, but slightly higher than in the period 2012-2020. The relatively high share in 2021 is due to a temporary increase in income taxes from personal taxpayers following exceptional dividends from Norwegian companies that year.
Non-petroleum revenue equals total expenditure
Guidelines for the fiscal policy determine that petroleum revenues should be transferred to the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) and invested in foreign financial markets. At the same time, the assumed long-term return on the fund's assets can be added to the public budgets. This means that revenues excluding petroleum revenues over time will correspond to total government expenditures. This link was strong in the ten-year period from 2010 to 2019. However, during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021, expenditures were higher than revenues excluding petroleum revenues. This was partly due to increased expenditures on income support for households and compensation schemes targeted towards businesses. The latest figures show that government finances are again in a state of balance in 2022.
After the previous release of general government revenue and expenditure, final figures on taxable income and assets for personal taxpayers and companies have been made available. They show that assessed taxes in 2021 are higher than previously estimated. The newest data has been included in government finance statistics and leads to an upward adjustment of taxes and social contributions equal to NOK 26.6 billion.