The workers of the Solna branch of the German LIDL in Sweden had a brilliant an idea of how to take care of the homeless problem. Really does make you think of how cruel life even in a civilized welfare state like Sweden can be. For starters, you need to be destitute to go to LIDL in the first place let alone skipdive.

I wonder if that would have been adapted to the USA by Wal-Mart if the Republicans had won?

I always *love* it when Finland gets into international news. Well, this time over the issue was boiling hot domestically and no wonder. The HS international Edition basic description of the events. Basically, a new editor-in-chief Johanna Korhonen, was hired to the Eastern Lapland regional newspaper Lapin Kansa which is published by a big Finnish publishing house Alma Media. And she was fired before she started in her job the reason being given there was a “lack of trust”   Well, the lady in question, who has been among other things the editor-in-chief of the newspaper of the Finnish Union of Journalists cried “foul” and stated in a press release she got sacked because she is living in a registered partnership with a woman.  The CEO of Alma Media Kai Telanne stated that the reason of course is not that, nothing discriminatory etcetera, but the fact that her partner is active in municipal politics while the editor should be politically nonaligned and the CEO said she had been fired for lying in her job interview, and she is just using the lesbian card.

And everybody thought in the traditional Finnish manner the issue would be brushed under the carpet.

Oops, not quite so… today had the Alma Media board of directors publishing a very curt statement of how they stand behind the CEO and do not want to discuss issues “that do not belong in the public”. Laughing my ass off as Alma Media publishes the worst scandal tabloid Iltalehti…

So what is the opinion – the current editor-in-chief of Lapin Kansa stated that an “while nobody asks what people do in their private lives as long as they keep int the closet an openly gay person would find it difficult to act as the editor-in-chief as the newspaper represents the region”.  Well, the region represented nor the newspaper doesn’t wish to be labelled as a redneck bible-belt hickdom it seems. The editors of the Lapin Kansa newspaper have demanded the CEO of Alma Media quits and is removed from the board of Lapin Kansa, The Lapland University’s women studies researchers has started rallying a boycott against Alma Media and its been said people have been canceling their subscriptions. The opinion is still out whether what Korhonen alleges is true – if it is then this is one of the most blatant discrimination cases to pop up.

Legal experts and journalists have come forth stating that personal issues should not be taken up in job interviews, and that as each person is responsible for themselves it is unfair to have some persons job depending on their spouses political activity. The government has stated that the issue should be investigated thoroughly – there was a debate but the government wanted facts as the situation is unclear. Meanwhile the biggest shareholder, a private investor stated that the “publicity is good” and that Alma Media stocks are on the rise. The Nordic newspapers also picked up on the story, especially the Danes as they have also a holding in Alma Media.

Yay! Publicity!  It seems that anything that is said or done in this case will cause another crap sandwich to appear in the lunchbox.

EDIT: 3.10 update HS International Edition of the new developments

The Ministry of Social and Health affairs has plans on making a public registry of licenced healthcare professionals. The registry would be public, on the internet and would have such information as the person’s name, birthdate, qualification and registration number and any restrictions. This kind of information is available already by a phone call, but the ministry suggests that this way the public could easily verify the treatments they get are provided by licenced professionals. The medical staff on the other hand opposes this kind of public registry, and says people won’t choose healthcare professions as a career if there is such a registry. Mainly the nurses are worried of stalkers and such.

Here’s an interesting choice of wording for this popular Finnish home pregnancy test: “Predictor”. Umm…I don’t think it’s a prediction I’m looking for – facts would be preferable. Does this thing come with a crystal ball and set of tarot cards or something? Do I need to dial a 1-900 number to get my results at $3.99/minute?

I tried this thing myself. After I shook it, the black triangle on the device read: “Ask again later”. So I shook it again…

It’s time for my fourth annual summer board game auction, yay!! This time I’ve teamed up with my neighbor and close friend, Saku S., to bring you even MORE great games – here’s how it works…

Below are the starting prices. Simply leave a comment below with your bids. Each bid must be 1 euro higher than the previous. Please include both your name and e-mail address. (if your message doesn’t immediately appear, it may have got caught in my spam guard – I’ll check my spam throughout the day so just wait a few hours and it will show)

I will update this page daily with the highest bids – however, when placing a bid, search through the comments to be sure you are the highest bidder.

I’ll be at Ropecon 2008, so I can bring the games there. If you won’t be at Ropecon, I can meet you in Espoo, or send the games in the Post (at your expense). I’ll accept bank transfer or cash.

The auction begins now (July 30th) and ends on Friday, August 8th at 12:00.

Good luck! E-mail me with any questions: phil >>at>> finlandforthought . net

Latest update on the bids: Friday, August 8th at 15:00, Winners updated

	Age of Napoleon / Das Zeitalter Napoleons, Phalanx	5 EUR, Kalle Miller WINNER: 10 EUR, Valtteri Pirttilä	German version with printed English rules. Unplayed.
	Heart of Africa / Ins Innere Afrika, Phalanx	WINNER: 5 EUR, Mika	German version with scanned printed English rules. Unplayed.
	Elasund: The First City of Catan, Kosmos	5 EUR 6 EUR, raaf WINNER: 7 EUR, Mirko	German version with printed English rules. Played maybe two times.
	Quarto!, Gigamic	5 EUR	Good condition.
	Marco Polo Expedition, Rio Grande	WINNER: 5 EUR, barber	English version. Good condition.
	New England, Goldsieber	5 EUR, Timo Malvisalo6 EUR, Hessu 9 EUR, Timo Malvisalo WINNER: 10 EUR, Hessu	Played condition.
	Scene it!, Screenlife LLC	10 EUR	First Edition (2003). Played condition.
	Space Dealer, Eggert Spiele	10 EUR 15 EUR, Kalle Miller WINNER: 18 EUR, Valtteri Pirttilä	German version with printed English rules. Good condition.
	Die Weinhändler, Amigo	2 EUR, Mosse 3 EUR, JoeLamer 5 EUR, Mosse WINNER: 6 EUR, metsku	German version with printed English rules. Good condition.
	Taru Sormusten Herrasta/Lord of the Rings, Tactic	5 EUR, Timo Malvisalo 7 EUR, Timo Malvisalo WINNER: 12 EUR,  Mirko	Finnish version. Unplayed.
	Combat Commander: Volume II – Mediterranean, GMT Games	15 EUR WINNER: 30 EUR, Vesa	In shrink. Unopened.
	Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery , Tropical Games	15 EUR 21 EUR, Patrik Lervik WINNER: 33 EUR, Tombad	With the components for extra player shipped with pre-order, box a bit caved in during shipment.
	4 x card games package	WINNER: 2 EUR, JoeLamer	Lao Pengh, Up & Down and Turbo from Adlung Spiele (all with English rules) + Herzlos from Winning Moves (German with no English rules)
	Amyitis, Ystari	5 EUR12 EUR, Mosse 13 EUR, Opettaja H. WINNER: 15 EUR, raaf	Played   3 times, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Augusburg 1520, Alea	5 EUR, Ossessione 9 EUR, Mirko WINNER: 15 EUR,  Mirko	Played 4 times, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Before the Wind, Mayfair	3 EUR WINNER: 9 EUR, Ossessione	Played once, like new. English edition.
	Blue Moon City, Kosmos	5 EUR 10 EUR, oskari 12 EUR, raaf WINNER: 13 EUR, Mika	Played several times, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Chicago Poker, Phalanx	WINNER: 3 EUR, barber	Played several times, like new. English edition.
	Darjleeing, Abacus	5 EUR 8 EUR, Jhua 9 EUR, metsku WINNER: 10 EUR, Jhua	Played once, like new. English edition.
	Double or Nothing, Uberplay (Reiner Knizia)	5 EUR	Played several times, like new. English edition.
	Evergreen, Goldseiber (Wolfgang Kramer)	WINNER: 2 EUR, Cane	Played once, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Great Wall of China, Kosmos (Reiner Knizia)	3 EUR WINNER: 5 EUR, Timo Tikkanen	Played several times, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Limits, Amigo (Uwe Rosenberg)	2 EUR, JoeLamer WINNER: 3 EUR, Cane	Played once, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Lucky Loop, Queen	3 EUR	Played twice, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Rage, Fundex	2 EUR, barber WINNER: 3 EUR, Cane	Played once, like new. English edition.
	Saludos Amigos!, Goldseiber	5 EUR	Played once, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Sleuth, Face-2-Face (Sid Sackson)	5 EUR WINNER: 10 EUR, Timo Tikkanen	Played once, like new. English edition.
	Walhalla, Amigo	5 EUR, Timo Malvisalo 6 EUR, Hessu 9 EUR, Timo Malvisalo WINNER: 10 EUR, Hessu	Played several times, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Ziegen Kriegen, Amigo	2 EUR, JoeLamer 3 EUR, metsku WINNER: 5 EUR, Cane	Played once, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Shogun, Queen (Dirk Henn)	10 EUR 25 EUR, Mosse 31 EUR, Mirko WINNER: 40 EUR, Jhua	Played once, like new. German edition with English rules.
	Thurn & Taxis: All Roads Lead to Rome, Rio Grande Games (Andreas Seyfarth)	5 EUR 6 EUR, JoeLamer 7 EUR, Hessu 9 EUR, Hessu WINNER: 11 EUR, Hessu	Played once, like new. English edition.
	Buccaneer, Queen (Stefan Dorra)	5 EUR, Hessu 7 EUR, Hessu WINNER: 13 EUR, Eikku	Played several times, like new. English edition.
	Imperial, Eggert-Spiele	10 EUR 30 EUR,  Timo Tikkanen WINNER: 31 EUR, pillar	Played   once, like new.  English edition.
	Canal Mania, Ragnar Brothers	10 EUR 11 EUR,  Niko WINNER: 12 EUR, Hessu	Played   once, like new.  English edition. Signed by the designers!
	Eketorp, Queen (Dirk Henn)	10 EUR 11 EUR, Akseli Pulkkinen 16 EUR, Hessu 20 EUR, Akseli Pulkkinen WINNER: 22 EUR, Akseli Pulkkinen	Played once, like new. German edition with English rules

We’ve always suspected it, but now we have proof. The Finnish europarliamentarian Anneli Jäättenmäki had to get a new passport. Reason being her old one got “lost” in somewhere between the Europarliament and the Indian Embassy. Neither party has it. As the Ilta-Sanomat says

According to Jäätteenmäki, thefts are quite usual in the EU-parliament. The member’s “boxes” where materials are transferred between Brussels and Strassbourg are missing things, such as cameras and laptops.

- “The police can not investigate the thefts, as they do not have access to the EU-parliament” says Jäättenmäki

Not only the idiotic and expensive dual seating and travelling between Brussels and Strassbourg, but also there is then nobody with jurisdiction to investigate either… Makes you wonder who designed the system.

Evidently Sirkuspelle’s efforts are finally showing some fruits. From the STT

Publishing individuals’ tax records in the media may in future be completely banned, provincial daily Keskisuomalainen reported on Wednesday. The paper added that the Supreme Administrative Court (KHO) had asked the the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a precedent on the issue. The ECJ will hold a discussion on the topic 12 February and the KHO would make its decision based on this precedent. The issue came to the forefront when Veropörssi, a Satakunta-based company that publishes tax information, listed over a million individuals’ tax records and then sold them to directory services firm Fonecta, which in turn sold the information on to customers via text message. According to Keskisuomalainen, Reijo Aarnio, Finland’s data protection ombudsman, took the issue to court as a breach of journalistic integrity.

The Age of Wonders is here.

I can’t believe hockey player Jere Karalahti is still in jail on drug charges. I’m not convinced that he’s guilty of anything, and it gets me thinking about drug policy in the Nordics.

What I don’t understand is that professional sports stars, like ones who compete in ice hockey, rugby, football, auto racing, boxing and even ski jumping, can have multiple concussions and other devastating head injuries; yet it’s so natural to think, “It’s OK because those injuries were suffered while playing sports. Carry on fearless warrior!” Nevermind that some of them will no longer be among the sharper pencils in the drawer…not that all of them were to begin with.

Whereas I don’t know anything specific about Jere’s case, when an average Pekka Jääkiekko wants to relax with his buddies and snuffle a few lines of white powder on a Saturday night, many of us are programmed to think, “Oh no, we can’t have THAT!” But sports head injuries are OK.

Of course, I’m being facetious by even remotely suggesting that the normal outcome of playing sports or using drugs results in permanent brain injuries. In either case, the chance is remote. Most sportsmen recover from their injuries, and the vast majority of recreational drug users never have problems in the first place. But why is there such a double standard?

We in Europe can learn from the follies of the United States, which has been using anti-drug propaganda for several decades now to justify its War on Drugs, a sustained effort to fund the prison industry. There are more people in US jails than in Russia and China combined. It’s a real human rights mess. That’s not to say we don’t have our own embarrassing practices here—albeit unrelated to prisons and drugs—but at least we’re not on the verge of needing to colonize the moon to secure more prison real estate.
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Most amazingly, American workers even prostitute themselves by offering bodily fluid samples for their corporate bosses to inspect. And the US sports industry is on the warpath with ridiculous testing regiments of its own for athletes. It’s such an embarrassing and unnecessary procedure for participants. The politically connected drug testing industry doesn’t seem to mind though.

Yet by all observations, these measures aren’t stopping anyone from doing illegal drugs. In fact, Americans love drugs more than ever! The passion spans all socio-economic strata, professions and age groups. It seems to abide well with the American work hard & play hard ethic. The sad part is that, whereas most people’s lives aren’t being harmed by the drugs themselves, they are instead impeded by the prison sentences, interrupted careers and other legal troubles associated with drug policies.

Now, none of this is meant to imply that drugs are wonderful. The above-mentioned powders have addiction rates and cause destructive illnesses just like alcohol; the chances of being afflicted are small but exist nonetheless. But let’s remember, there’s also a chance of suffering debilitating injuries while riding a bicycle—those little Styrofoam helmets might be concrete-resistant, but they’re not concrete-proof—or parachuting, hang gliding or cliff climbing for that matter. Life is full of risk choices.

The biggest danger that I see, aside from the legal troubles, is the possibility of ingesting a mixture containing something found in the cabinet under the kitchen sink. You just never know what some unscrupulous dealer might have used to dilute the product. Maybe he was short on baking flour, but too lazy to run to the store? Out comes the carpet cleanser. The chance of impurity is probably more harmful than the drug itself.

Given this pitfall, and the fact that keeping drugs illegal only raises profits and encourages more sales and usage (it’s probably the biggest business in America), why not follow the Swiss example of providing those with serious drug ‘desires’ a rationed assortment of whatever makes them happiest—after all, isn’t life about being happy? Surely it can’t only be about punishing each other for our differing preferences.

So to really seal our place in history as being part of the enlightened Nordics, let’s take the entire drug market away from greedy criminals and put it where it belongs: The government.

We can begin by opening a sister-monopoly to the famous Alko, Finland’s governmental alcohol pusher. The new enterprise can be named Narko; hence, together they’ll form the Alko-Narko Alliance. The new monopoly can have the same high prices, narrow selection and limited opening hours as its older sibling. Naturally, it will also have government workers who’ll occasionally strike for higher pay. Rest assured, we can even continue to enjoy the long cues before holidays.

And best yet: when the European Commission again censures Finland for its anti-competitive practices, we can defensively retort: “We need Narko to control drug addiction!” But this time, it might actually be an honest statement.

You said it Elvis!

I found a very intersting article on the World Bank’s website that was written by the Korea Institute of Public Finance.

One of the big subjects that has been talked about here in Finland is the underground economy or “harmaa talous”. One of the arguments used for having public tax records (“transparency”) is to reduce the amount of the underground economy. There was a even a huge attempt at a crackdown on the underground economy in the mid to late 1990’s, in an attempt to bring the level down. Lately, there hasn’t been much talk about it due to other, more pressing news.

What is the underground economy?

It is the unreported exchange of money. This can happen through illegal activites, such as drug trafficking, prostitution, and human trafficking, or it can happen through legal activities, such as bartering goods, unreported work, wages from self employment, employee discounts, payment without a receipt, etc.

In Norway, according to the government tax authority’s web site, 45% of people over 18 years old have purchased unreported labour. It was described as “underground economy” labour. There are probably similar levels in Sweden and Finland as well.

Why is it a problem ?

People may go underground to escape tax and social security burdens. As a result, this can weaken the tax and social security bases. As a result of this, there can be an increase in the budget deficit and tax rates. As a result of this, there can be further growth in the underground economy, and finally there is a weakening in the system, or the country, as a whole.

Growth of the underground economy

The article showed that there was, among all the European countries featured, the most dramatic growth of underground economic activity in the Scandinavian countries between the years 1960-1995. (Denmark, Norway, Sweden) Finland wasn’t included in the paper, but we can assume that Finland has very similar scores. The growth in Scandinavia was much higher than that in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the US. Norway had the most dramatic increase of all the European and Western countries featured in the article.

Causes of Underground Economy

• Higher tax rates and social security contributions
• Increased regulation
• Forced reduction of weekly working hours
• Earlier retirement
• Unemployment
• Decline of civic virtue and loyalty towards public institutions

I take the liberty to define another cause here, because I believe it is a factor. These countries that have had the highest increase in underground economic activity also have or have had public (published) tax records. The published information is name, salary, capital income, and municipality in the case of Finland, and until recently included wealth. In Finland’s case, the information has been published in tax calendars, newspapers, and other publications which sole purpose is to publish this information. In Sweden in recent years, quite detailed information could be looked up online, but anonymous lookups were stopped during this past Summer. Norway has had press heydays when it has opened its records up for 3 weeks a year. In all these countries, it is toted as some sort of noble democratic ideal and called “transparency”, but it ends up basically being a feeding frenzy for the press and tabloid type entertainment.

There seems to be a psychological factor, a desire of people to take what is their own, that is the money they have worked hard for, and put it in a safe place away from prying eyes. When even peoples’ wealth is published, it should come as no surprise when the government finds that there are billions in Finnish money in the Cayman Islands and other tax paradises where the governments don’t reveal the identity of the owner of the money.

I might also add “fear of the tax official” in the case of Scandinavia, and wanting to avoid dealings with the tax collector because of an unclear definition of one’s rights and responsibilities as a taxpayer. There is an expression “the tax collector is always right” in Finnish. “Verottaja on aina oikeassa.” Noone is comfortable dealing with a boss, for example, who is “always right”.

Methods of Estimating the Size of the Underground Economy

A number of different approaches were used to estimate the size of the underground economy. There were indirect approaches like taking surveys, looking at discrepancies between the national expenditure and income statistics, discrepancies between the official and actual labour force, currency demand approach and physical input. The currency demand approach looks at the demand for cash currency which points to underground payments, because cash is often used with underground payment. The physical input looks at the demand for electricity, since electrical consumption goes hand in hand with economic development. If a country is using more electricity than is accounted for in its GDP, then the rest can be suspected as being used for the underground economy. (read the article)

Most studies try to associate the tax burden with the underground economy, which certainly must be a factor in the case of Scandinavia, due to the high taxes. However, the tax burden in Scandinavia is pretty similar with that in other EU countries, such as France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, etc. But one differing factor is certainly the pubicizing of peoples’ tax and income records from the tax officials. I maintain that this causes people to want to hide their money and their money transactions away from prying eyes.

The conclusion: The use public tax records to reduce the underground economy in Scandinavia has failed quite quite miserably. Or then, I might add, it was always just an excuse used by people who are addicted to “peeping” at other peoples’ private economic affairs and is perhaps the actual cause of this dramatic, disproportional increase in the underground economy in this region.

 

Veropörssi, a list of names and incomes in newspaper format for 9,80. Sorry about the poor quality picture. It was taken yesterday.

Pornography is something that is normally very taboo to look at or talk about in normal everyday society, like at work, for example. There are some people who sell and publish it in order to make money. There are enough people who are excited about it and addicted to it to make it a very big industry. It makes a lot of money for those selling it and it entertains those consuming it – there is really no other use for it. It is actually considered by some to be quite dangerous and the industry has a reputation for being quite “dirty”. Acquiring pornographic material is often done in a coercive manner, that is against the wishes of the subject of the pornography. Often, it is very damaging to the subject. Images of people exposing their reproductive organs, and performing sexual acts is something that belongs in the arena of private life, most agree. It is not information that should be sold or published, at least not without consent.

In Finland, material that is very taboo to bring up in everyday Finnish society is nicely packaged up, sold to the press for money, published or released. It excites many people and many are very addicted to it. It is also damaging to many people and puts some into danger. It is done without the permission of the subject. It is there purely to make money for those publishing it and to entertain those buying it and has no other real use. And, in this case, this industry is run and sanctioned by the government. It is called “public tax records” or “julkiset verotiedot” – in other words, lists of people’s names, salaries, captital incomes, and municipalities where they live. This is an industry that is quite comparable to the pornography industry. And many feel violated by it.

Is there anything that can be done about it? Yes, for certain. If you feel like your own rights are violated in any way by this, it is important to file a complaint to the European Commission. Let them know that you feel your rights are violated – that is what they are there for. Let a parlaiment member know as well. You don’t need to quote any laws, they are aware of this issue here in Finland already. Complaints to the EC will actually help the Finnish government establish a solid foundation for new legislation, a foundation which will weather the changing political fashions and the complaints from people who feel like it is their right to monitor other peoples’ financial matters. 

This is taken from http://keskustelu.plaza.fi/ajassa/keskustelu/t1641815-8612867#m8612867 This just keeps getting better and better. It was posted on 2.10.2007 

Tax office revealed the municipality of a customer who was under a Privacy Protection Order

My relative needed to apply for a restraining and privacy protection order and move to another municipality about 5 years ago because of harrassing behaviour from an ex-partner. As a normal Finnish person, she needs to go to work and get paid taxable income. Her harrassing ex-partner succeeded in tracking down her new municipality from her salary, because the tax office, against the order of the court and magistrate, went and gave the press the info of my relative’s tax municipality. The information was published and now there has been such serious harrassment and threatening, that another move is ahead. The tax office has said that they give information about the municipality about every taxpayer and that plucking out each customer under a protection of privacy order would cause them way too much work. The second time, the tax office said that this issue does not belong to them.How can the tax office give out such information, that another official has declared confidential, and defend that the tax municipality can be published? Isn’t the tax municipality the same as the residence municipality? Who can one turn to with this problem, if not the tax official who hascreated this problem?

This is a discussion from Parlaiment from beginning of 2005 that I translated into English.

Written question

KK 992/2004 vp – Paula Risikko /National Coalition Party

WRITTEN QUESTION 992/2004 vp
Improvement of the law regarding publicity of tax records.

To the Speaker of Parlaiment

The law regarding the publicity and secrecy of tax records (1346/1999 ) defines that such tax records are to be kept secret, which have information regarding the tax payer’s financial standing, excluding those details, which are defined as public in 5-9 and 21 of this law. The taxpayers income, paid tax, amount of prepaid tax and tax returned or tax to be paid are defined as public tax records.

The previously mentioned procedure is a result of attempting to achieve a fair relation between the tax authority’s transparency and increased trustworthyness by increasing openness and on the other hand protecting the person’s privacy and, among other things, business secrets.

It is correct and worth supporting that the citizens have, for example through the media, a possibility to get information from, for example, officials, business leaders and politicians’ salary levels and the extent of possible side incomes and tax percentages.

In this case, the starting point should be that the tax authority’s information should be as correct as possible. The goal is not completely achieved in the current framework of the legislation regarding the publicity of tax records. Tax records are, in practicality, public only in the stage that the taxation is ready. Taxation is a broad and complicated process, that there will always be a certain number of mistakes. The taxation is fixed and the mistakes are corrected sometimes even years after the taxation is ready.

The probem is that tax records which are cleaned of mistakes and fixed are, in practice, no longer public information. Faulty information has been possibly published when the tax records were ready, but the fixed and correct tax information is no longer public. The corrections remain secret, but the faulty information continues in circulation. Even when someone complains about their own taxation, it is secret information in practice.

There are numerous examples, which have been also publicized, for example, economics reporter Tuomo Pietiläinen presented good arguments regarding this in his column (HS 6.11.2004). The author concludes that in public tax records, there has been anomalies and mistakes nearly every year. A businessman, who was completely broke is in the top for property statistics, or a fireman who has a salary of 16 million Euros.

Another problem with public tax records is shown in another practical example: Underage siblings had recieved corporate stocks as an inheritance and gift. The parents intention was to handle the children’s ownership of the stocks in such a way, that the dividends were reinvested into buying the siblings more stocks. In the familiar way we have seen in the recent years, the regular growth of the stocks increased suddenly in a dramatic way, and this showed later in the children’s tax records. The underage children, because of the way they were raised, didn’t know very much about the nest-egg that would be waiting for them when they are adults. Their names were published together with the other tax records in newspapers, and the result was quite difficult and trying situation to be come the object of publicity. This also included, among other things, a death threat and completely unfounded hinting that the family was practicing tax planning.

It is clear that the legislator did not intend for his law to work in the way presented in the real life examples mentioned previously. Therefore there is reason to clarify the text of the law to better serve the original purpose.

The legislation regarding the publicity of tax records will probably need to be changed in, for example the stopping of wealth tax ….. In conjunction with this is a natural opportunity to change other observed problematic areas.

Based on the previous and according to the Parlaiment Rules of Procedure 27 I present the following question to be answered to the concerned members of the government council:

Is it in the knowledge of the government the practical effects of these certain injustices in the law regarding publicity of tax records and how does the government intend to correct the deficiencies in the legislation regarding the grievances presented here in the previous arguments?

Helsinki 14 December 2004

Paula Risikko /National Coalition Party

To the Speaker of Parlaiment

In the Parlaiment Rules of Procedure in the intent of 27 § You, Mr. Chairman, have delivered Representative Paula Risikko’s (National Coalition Party) written question to be ansered by the concered minister. KK 992/2004 vp:

Is it in the knowledge of the government the practical effects of these certain injustices in the law regarding publicity of tax records and how does the government intend to correct the deficiencies in the legislation regarding the grievances presented here in the previous arguments?

As an answer to to the question I present the following:

The publicity of tax records has been, from old times, valid during the whole period of the current tax system. There has often arisen discussion, because tax records do not naturally tell the whole truth about citizens’ wealth and income. In recent times, the situation has emphasized movement of capital because of internationalization. it is a problem of its own, the problems that are created when the occasional mistake pops up in tax records that the asker is referring to, despite the fact that their significance has noticeably decreased as the correctness of the tax records has increased. When we take into consideration that tax events are in the millions, mistakes actually happen surprisingly little. Even one mistake is, of course, too many, and they should not be underestimated.

We last had a broad and lively discussion about the publicity of tax records around half way through the last decade. It was brought forward from the level of the officials the possibility of giving up public tax records, which were considered in modern circumstances to be unnecessarily exposing information that belongs in the sphere of privacy. Using statistical methods, we can get a rather precise picture of society’s structure of income and wealth. In the modern world, tax surveillance methods have become so well developed, that public tax records are no longer necessary for so called neighbour control. The discussion that occurred at that time however received the same blunt verdict from many different politicians: there is not one party in Parliament that is prepared to support even partially limiting public tax records. It was generally held from the viewpoint of societal morals to be important, that also singular persons’ income and wealth information be made public. Something that certainly affected this was pure human curiosity. For the media, it is also a question of money. We can return to this discussion at any time, when the time seems right. Since there are really no grounds for this system, there would probably be no opposition from the Ministry of Finance government. So the question is a purely political matter.

Helsinki 5 January 2005, Vice Minister of Finance, Ulla-Maj Wideroos

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/gov_cor-government-corruption

Here is the list of the top 10 least corrupt countries in the world. We can see the ones at the top of the list have certain things in common. They are small countries, with a small population. A smaller population is easier to govern, and the government officials are closer to the population. They are all democracies, except for maybe Singapore, which has characteristics of a dictatorship. They are also more or less social welfare states and have a market economy.

New Zealand is in the British Commonwealth. If it uses the British (Anglo) judicial model, it is quite different from the continental European model. Typically, court cases are closed and a jury is used in the Anglo model. In the continental European model, which is used in Finland, the courts are open, except in exceptional cases (like the recent Jere Karalahti drug case). Juries are not really used in the continental European model. Apparently, this doesn’t seem to affect corruption statistics.

What we don’t see in common here is these countries’ governments selling personal income data to the press. In Finland, it is said by some that this is how Finland keeps its corruption statistics down. Iceland has its tax books open for 4 days a year. There is no publishing or selling of the data. And not all that many people even bother to go and look at them during those 4 days. New Zealand and Finland are tied for corruption statistics. New Zealand seems to have managed to pull off this grueling task without selling their peoples’ personal tax data to the press. Switzerland is close behind, and it has privacy taken to the extreme.

So no, it is not selling personal tax data to the press that keeps the statistics down. But isn’t corruption when the government does things that are illegal for money? Like selling personal tax data to the press, while disregarding the data subjects’ rights?

At any rate, hats off to Finland for the low corruption. But don’t think it is because of your public tax records.

http://www.vero.fi/nc/viewarticle.asp?article=5761&language=FIN

I have been talking about how the Finnish government is selling peoples’ tax records. Now you can have a concrete look at how it is done.
I found this article on the Tax Authority’s website from the link above. It gives the prices they charge for selling the personal data to the press to be published. I translated it into English, so you could see and read this.

Here you are:

Income taxation public info is available for order

Press release 4.10.2007, Tax Authority
Tax Year 2006 income taxation information becomes public 1.11.2007, and the tax authority can, according to the law, release the public income taxation information for journalistic purposes in electronic format.

Wealth tax has been removed from the beginning of 2006, so the public information no longer contains information about the taxpayers’ wealth. The public information is:

For Natural Persons:
Name, year of birth, municipality, government taxable income and captital income, municipal taxable income, income tax, municipal tax, taxes and payments owed, total of tax advances, amount of tax collections to be paid or returned.

For Organizations:
Name, municipality, business or organizational symbol, taxable income, total tax owed, total of tax advances, amount of tax collection to be paid or returned.

How to order

A binding order for release of data is done in writing with an order form, which should be sent by 17.10.2007 to:

Verohallitus (Tax Authority)
Tietopalveluyksikkö (Information Service Center)
PL 325
00052 VERO

We will try to deliver orders made by 17.10.2007 on 1.11.2007. The information can be picked up from the Tax Authority in Helsinki or in Jyväskylä. The information can also be mailed to the customer starting 1.11.2007.

Orders made later will be delivered on an agreed timetable.

More detailed instructions and order forms can be found at www.vero.fi/mediapalvelu

Prices

A fee is charged for release of data. The price is 0,36 € (+ VAT 22%) /line of data, with a minimum of 20 € (+ alv 22%) /order.

More information for editors:
Senior Advisor Taito von Konow, puh. (09) 7311 4165
Technical matters (8.10 alkaen) head coordinator Merja Seppä-Heikka puh. (09) 7311 4167

E-mail addresses are in the format: first-name.last-name@vero.fi

Printable version © Verohallinto 4.10.2007 Send a link.

——————-end of translation

At these prices, if one line of data corresponds to one person’s tax records, then the Ilta-rags are charged 360 Euros for putting the top 1000 people in the net. However, I don’t think 1 line of data corresponds to 1 person’s records, so they are paying quite a bit more.

If Veropörssi were to pay for the tax records, then for 1,2 million people, that would be 432,000 Euros if indeed 1 line = 1 person’s record. Quite a little business opportunity. Too bad it doesn’t seem to be quite legal in the EU to wholesale personal data. Also, the other big government data registries like ake.fi and vrk.fi will not release personal data if the data subject has objected to it, which they say is required of them by 95/46/EC.

It would also be interesting to know where this money from the sale of personal data is going.

http://www.kauppalehti.fi/4/i/uutiset/teema/vero/juttu.jsp?oid=2006/11/02/2114968 

I just found this Kaupplehti article. This is from about the same time last year, when the tax record publishing circus started. I wonder if there are any articles anywhere where someone reports something good that has happened from having his or her income published in magazines and newspapers.

We don’t have a human right to know other peoples’ financial matters, but we do have a human right to live life fee of interference with our private and family lives. It sounds like a widow in Åland got some publicity that she didn’t especially want.

Translation of it:

Tax office puts widow at top of list

 The publishing of tax records raises new names into the top of the lists each year, sometimes as a surprise the person him- or herself. This time Ålander widow Karin Jansson collected a salary of 2.5 million Euros last year.

- I’m retired, I don’t have any salary, Jansson told. 

According to Jansson, she has received the sum as capital income. 

Jansson’s late husband, in his time, founded a shipping company called Transman. The company got over 40 million Euros, when it sold its shares in the Åland company, Chips to the Norwegian company, Orkla. The money has obviously been distributed as dividends.

Even if Jansson’s generous salary seems like a mistake, the tax office is not making any comment. 

- We only tell the public the information used to prepare the taxes, says Senior Advisor Taito von Konow. 

- The taxpayer can demand changes in his or her information, but then the information is no longer public according to the law.