Suomen Kansallisooppera avoids 500,000€ loss thanks to private donation!
@ 3:59 am This is really great news! Thanks to a 550,000€ private donation, the Finnish National Opera avoided a 500,000€ loss in 2006, and instead it posted an operating surplus of 50,000€ !
I’m especially pleased about this, because I’m not an Opera fan and don’t feel particularly obligated to pay for such extravagances with taxes from my little Finnish worker salary. Nevertheless, I’m glad the Opera exists. But I’m even more glad that some wealthy private individual likes it enough to donate!
Finland needs to stop chasing-away people with wealth. Repealing the wealth tax was a good first step. But the unpopular inheritance tax still exists, and taxation in general is much too high. People with significant amounts of money leave Finland and never come back. And rightly so. Unfortunately, the rest of us not-so-wealthy ones are left to pay.
Having a broad income spectrum in society helps everyone—rich and poor alike. It affects everything from funding the Opera to funding KELA.
You can eat the rich…..or invite them to dinner.
The choice is yours
Comment by Kristian — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 4:24 am
The upper class opera could be funded by either 1) we common people or 2) the wealthy. I like the #2 option better.
Comment by Phil — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 6:27 am
sorry for the stupid question, but could someone explain to me what the wealth tax is and how does it work ? Luckily, living in Finland, I don’t think I have that problem.
Comment by uncle sam — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 7:53 am
The way I read the article, National Opera made 50k of operational profit. This means that they made profit also without the donation…
“At the beginning of January, the executive management of the Opera still believed that without the donation of EUR 550,000 given by an anonymous donor the Opera’s financial statement would have shown a loss.”
Comment by Henri Bergius — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 8:37 am
The wording is ..
“operating surplus of 50,000€ !”..not “operating profit”..
could that make a differnce to tax paid…?
Comment by Karhu — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 10:32 am
#3 the wealth tax isn’t, it used to be. So if Bill Gates lived in Finland he’d be taxed a few % for being filthy rich.
Comment by Hank W. — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 12:29 pm
Tax money funding?
Dear me, did I look at the pie wrong. I think it said the majority, was it 75% of the opera funding comes from Veikkaus dealed out by the Ministry of Education (that deals with culture). So its all them grannies playing the one-armed bandits in Prisma and the yobs playing ice hockey bets thats funding the Opera.
Comment by Hank W. — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 12:31 pm
uncle same: “…but could someone explain to me what the wealth tax is and how does it work ? ”
It basically meant that someone was taxed about 2% (if I remember the percentage correctly) per-year on the value of their net assets. Sweden still has the stupid tax, so lots of people keep their assets abroad—or simply move away altogether—and Sweden loses.
Such ‘class envy’ taxes never have the intended effect; instead they merely shift the tax burden onto the poor.
Comment by Kristian — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 12:49 pm
Why is it that the state is spending money on the Opera, and at the same time there’s a chrisis in the healthcare system?
Comment by Anonymous — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 12:51 pm
The upper class opera could be funded by either 1) we common people or 2) the wealthy. I like the #2 option better.
Opera is upper-class only by reputation, not by function. Students etc. get significant ticket discounts. A big part of the Finnish National Ballet’s and Opera’s clientele is composed of ordinary art-loving people. Just because you don’t understand it or like it doesn’t mean that it’s upper-class and out of reach.
Comment by Anzi — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 12:58 pm
#7- “So its all them grannies playing the one-armed bandits in Prisma and the yobs playing ice hockey bets thats funding the Opera.”
;) 
Does that mean I can get in with a used Keno ticket? What about a scratched ässä arpa?
Comment by Punter — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 1:02 pm
I’ll bet entrance fees to the Finnish Opera actually are actually higher than those in the rest of Europe…….despite all the taxes we pay. It always seems to work that way here in the Nordics.
It’s one of the many not-so-hidden costs of chasing away capital wealth.
Comment by Kristian — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 1:06 pm
I’ll bet entrance fees to the Finnish Opera actually are actually higher than those in the rest of Europe…….
Not according to my experience.
Comment by Anzi — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 2:23 pm
I’ll take your bet. Though I’ll need to see the colour of your money - don’t want any of those dodgy DDR notes made out of Trabant bodywork.
Chatelet in Paris, top price EUR 120, Deutsche Oper EUR 112, La Scala EUR 170, ROH London 170 POUNDS…
Helsinki EUR 95, Stockholm Royal Swedish around EUR 60 - 80, Oslo EUR 60-70, Copenhagen EUR 93
Comment by kylmä totuus — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 2:26 pm
Perhaps you should go more often, but if you bet on the ponies like you bet on opera prices, I’m not surprised you are short of a bob or two for leisure time pursuits.
Comment by kylmä totuus — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 2:29 pm
Kristian, to add a bit more facts to your statement:
Helsinki opera prices are similar or cheaper to European or American opera theaters.
In Helsinki, single tickets range from 18 to 80 for premieres and to 62 euros for other performances.
In Paris or New York, prices range from 20-30 to 140 euros.
In Milan, prices are similar.
In London, they range from 10 euros (if you are standing) to 140-240 euros (depending on the performance).
Of course, prices of performances depend on who is performing and who did the choreography among other things.
Comment by Janne — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 2:31 pm
But Kristian wants to be able (if he feels like it) to contribute PERSONALLY - get his name on the “Playbill” back page as a Senior Patron who’s shelled out ten grand as a Friend of Covent Garden or a Friend of the Met, while he also pays a couple of hundred bucks for the privilege of actually attending the show…
He doesn’t BELIEVE in taxes. They drive people off to expensive opera countries, for a start.
Comment by kylmä totuus — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 2:36 pm
Well, the state giving money to the opera beats spending 60,000 euro on blocks of ice as ‘art’ in the summertime. The arts should be primarily privately funded through ticket sales and fundraising but I didn’t think such philanthropic pursuits really existed in Finland either because few have the money or everyone believes the state will fund everything.
Comment by hfb — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 2:39 pm
Of course, ummm…dog parks could be privately funded, too.
Not sure if I want to see my hard-earned tax euros go on pooch parad-… oh, forget it. I can’t be bothered. 
The re-acclimatisation process is almost complete, I see. Hardly seems possible I could have read this just over a year ago:
“I remain jet lagged, tired and dazed from the trip so it will be a few more days before returning to my old tired and lazy self. I have a renewed appreciation for my adopted home that only spending two weeks in the heartland of flyover country with it’s miles of strip malls, massive SUVs and nearly ubiquitous “Support Our Troops” ribbons on their bumpers could provide. It was good to see my family, but I’m glad to be home again.”
And don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to see it. Getting stuck with one foot on either side of the Atlantic is a painful and all-too-common complaint.
Comment by kylmä totuus — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 2:58 pm
Janne: “Of course, prices of performances depend on who is performing and who did the choreography among other things.”
Yes, I agree. As with many things, there are different levels of quality.
Generally, I find that in Finland, you pay for things twice; once via over-taxation and then once again via a per-use fee. There’s no advantage to it.
Comment by Kristian — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 6:37 pm
Ah.. the fat lady sang and you finally returned. To deliver the crushing blow that of course it’s cheap in Helsinki because the quality sucks. But simultaneously ignoring the fact that in #7 it was quite clearly stated that 75% of funding comes from revenue from gambling, and not from direct or indirect taxation out of your rather deep pockets. Or that the funding of places such as Covent Garden by the wealthy patrons does nothing to make it any easier for the hoi polloi to attend these “extravagances”.
Let them watch “Salatut elämät”!
Comment by kylmä totuus — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 6:46 pm
Why not distribute the Opera money directly to the people in the form of tax cuts and let them decide themselves how to spend it. Could it be that the minitry of culture thinks that Opera is better culture than what the stupid common folks want?
Comment by Anonymous — Thu, Mar 22nd, 2007 @ 10:14 pm
Ah, no wonder I was wondering where I read this crap, on the crapper. Taloussanomat had the pie:
Opera Budget 2006 57,2 million euros
74,6% Ministry of Education allotted Veikkaus funds.
16,7% Tickets
7,7% Helsinki Metropolitan Area counties
1,0% Private Sponsors
Comment by Hank W. — Fri, Mar 23rd, 2007 @ 10:11 am