Wednesday’s papers: US election, tax transparency, winter sports season

Campaign lessons

A 40-member delegation from Finland’s Social Democratic Party is in the US observing Kamala Harris’s campaign.

Helsingin Sanomat phoned SDP Party Secretary Mikkel Näkkäläjärvi in the early hours of Wednesday, Finnish time, for an update on how the election was going and what the delegation may have learned from the campaign.

Näkkäläjärvi himself has been at American voters’ doors along with Harris campaign workers. He said he noticed that most voters were interested in everyday domestic issues. Foreign policy did not come up much in the discussions, with the exception of the Middle East, he said.

HS asked Näkkäläjärvi if we will see SDP campaign volunteers knocking on doors and manning telephones during Finland’s upcoming elections.

“That remains to be seen, but the delegates who are here seem to be enthusiastic. It has perhaps been thought that for many Finns there is a mental block on whether you can go to a stranger’s door and knock or ring. I’ve noticed that people who have done it are quite positive about it.”

Looking at what the neighbour pays

In Finland, everyone’s tax information is partially public. Public information includes, for example, taxable income and capital income for individuals. Similar to past years, income tax data for 2023 will be published on Thursday.

A fresh poll by the Uutissuomalainen news group shows that almost half of Finns think that the current amount of tax information disclosed to the public is the right one.

The survey found that 49 percent think that the current level of tax disclosure is right, 20 percent would like to see more data, while 16 would like to further limit disclosure.

According to Teemu Lehtinen, managing director of the Taxpayers Association of Finland, the USU poll confirms the view that there is no real no pressure from citizens to change the arrangement.

The Tax Administration’s public tax data only show income on which tax is paid. It cannot be used to determine a person’s exact salary or the total amount of capital income.

The public access to tax information in Finland means that anyone can ask tax authorities for tax information on anyone else. The media also annually publishes figures on the taxable income of public figures.

According to Lehtinen, the debate on tax information is to a large extent linked to this media publicity.

“It is generally accepted that the tax information of people in positions of social decision-making should be published. The publication of the names of the highest earners is also understandable,” he told USU.

Lehtinen says that he himself looks in particular at the data for the amount of tax paid.

“I pay attention to who has paid the most tax. It is a day celebrating people who have contributed a great deal to paying for the common good.”

Border speculation

Finland’s eastern border will soon have been closed for a year now, and according to Ilta-Sanomat, the Finnish government is not planning to open it any time soon. For the moment, the threat of a resumption and expansion of instrumentalised immigration as seen in the past is still considered as likely.

However, IS reports that its sources say that if the threat assessment were to change, and the government decides to experiment with opening the eastern border, this will happen in winter rather than spring.

Several sources confirmed to the paper that if and when traffic resumes across the eastern border only one border crossing would be opened.

The reason for the timing, says IS, is snow and winter weather conditions in general.

Not only does snow make it difficult for people to move across the terrain outside crossing points, it also allows for better control of the flow of people both in Russia and in Finland. For this reason, it would make more sense to conduct the experiment in winter, should it be decided to do so.

However, the winter conditions also carry the risk that migrants arriving at the border are unlikely to have proper clothing for the Nordic country’s winter. Finland has a duty to help those in need.

The government has so far not taken a decision to even try to open even one border post. The decision is largely influenced by the Border Guard’s situational awareness and intelligence. The situation is constantly monitored and assessed.

The government last tested opening the Vaalimaa and Niirala border crossing points on 12 December 2023 with poor results, as Russia immediately started massing people at the border. The government does not even want to go ahead with a trial opening if the same situation arises this time.

According to IS, there are people ready to leave for the eastern border, especially in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The biggest threat, however, is not the people already in Russia, but the numbers that Russia can quickly mass influx from third countries.

Winter sports kicking off

Hufvudstadsbladet tells readers to put on their skates and get out their skis.

With the arrival of colder weather, the winter season has started in four locations in the Helsinki metropolitan area. On Tuesday, Espoo opened three artificial ice rinks to the delight of the city’s residents. They are located in the Tapiola Ice Park, at Säterinniitty in Leppävaara and in the Laaksolahti Sports Park. Vantaa has also opened its first ice rink in the Hakunila Sports Park.

The skating season opens in earnest on Friday 8 November, when the ice rink rental office and café in Tapiola open.

The first snow that fell over the region last weekend has melted away in many places. Nevertheless, snow is piling up Hakunila, after Vantaa’s city sports services started up a snow cannon at the end of last week.

The aim is to open the first ski track in time for Father’s Day, which is on Sunday.

On Monday, officials at the Oittaa Recreational Area in Espoo removed the tarpaulin covering a pile of about 4,000 cubic metres of artificial snow which the city made in February to save for the first ski tracks of the autumn.

The first 600-750 metre track is expected to be ready to welcome skiers at the end of the week.

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