Pomperipossa in Monismania

"Pomperipossa in Monismania", also called "Pomperipossa in the World of Money", is a satirical story written by the Swedish children's book author Astrid Lindgren in response to the 102% marginal tax rate that she incurred in 1976. It was published starting on 3 March in the Stockholm evening tabloid Expressen and created a major debate about the Swedish tax system. The marginal tax rate above 100%, dubbed the "Pomperipossa effect", was due to tax legislation that required self-employed individuals to pay both regular income tax and employer's fees. Pomperipossa in Monismania was translated into English by Sarah Death. It was published in the first issue of the magazine Swedish Book Review in 2002.^[1]

The story, a satirical allegory about a writer of children's books in a distant country, led to a stormy tax debate and is often attributed as a decisive factor in the defeat of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, for the first time in 40 years, in the elections later the same year. Publicly, Lindgren continued to support the party for all her life, but private letters reveal that she supported the opposition in the 1976 election and that she feared that the Social Democratic Party after 44 years of consecutive rule was turning Sweden into a socialist dictatorship.^[2][3]

References

1. "Pomperipossa in Monimania".
2. Barkman, Clas (16 May 2010). "Brev från Astrid Lindgren visar hennes stöd för S". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). Retrieved 7 September 2019.
3. "Astrid Lindgrens privata brev till Alf Svensson: "Vi riskerar diktatur"". SVT Nyheter (in Swedish). 6 December 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2022.

External links

• Short article about Pomperipossa in Monismania from the Astrid Lindgren website
• English version