Finland way ahead of U.S. in many ways

Honolulu Star Bulletin ^ | 12/12/03 | Nancy Bey Little

[GrandmaPatriot]

The article about Finland in your Dec. 7 Travel section was interesting. We like to think that we are the most advanced country in the world, but that seems to apply only to weapons, and many others (even in "Old Europe") are far ahead of us. Helsinki, a small capital city of 500,000, has an underground metro and light-rail trams. Finland has the most successful economy in the world and provides its citizens with many social benefits: education through graduate school, generous child-care leave, $100-per-month child payments until age 16 and health care. Our radical right-wing would sniff "socialism," but they are way ahead of us. And they are not squandering billions of dollars and human lives by invading other nations.

[GrandmaPatriot]

This is the type of thinking that is prevelant in Hawaii? Notice not one mention about the tax rate in Finland.

[GrandmaPatriot]

This is in the letters to the editor section of the link.

[JeeperFreeper]

One, I question some of the letter writers assertions. Two,
if Finland is so perfect, the writer can emigrate.

[vbmoneyspender]

Two questions. How many people emigrate from the U.S. to Finland each year? And how many people migrate from Finland to the U.S. each year? For answers, you might want to talk to Linus Torvalds of Linux fame.

[Conspiracy Guy]

In Finland they start a lot of things, but never Finnish! Income tax rate is like 60%. They haven't been attacked by terrrorist either, yet.

[RightWhale]

Plywood. Not logs, but an actual product.

[dighton]

"You're so sadly neglected,
And often ignored,
A poor second to Belgium,
When going abroad."

[Tax-chick]

No mention either of the suicide rate in Finland, which is the highest in the world most years.

[international american]

"Notice not one mention about the tax rate in Finland."

60-62%

[caisson71]

Isn't Finland great? Maybe more "concerned citizens" should move there, especially those in Hawaii who are never satisfied with what they have. Please, please, move to wonderful Finland.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Yea, right. When I think of economic giants and world powers, Finland is right up there.

[misterrob]

Heck, if we didn't have to provide for national defense (who in the hell wants to invade Finland anyway and it is too cold for the towel heads) then $400 billion could be used to provide a perfect society.....

Now back to reality.....

[finnman69]

Finnish American here. They tax the living crap out of you in Finland.

[finnman69]

Actually they did have a bombing at a mall outside of Helsinki that reeked of Islamists. Finland has a huge..get this...Somali population now.

[AnalogReigns]

When you count state and local fees and sales taxes, not to mention the IRS...most in the USA pay close to 50% in taxes...

[Kenton]

Finland also is way ahead of us in reindeer.

[finnman69]

Finland at least bought 48 F-18's a few years ago.

[Weimdog]

The writer is a dope.

It took me 30 seconds on Google to find out that Finland is facing the same sort of population crisis the rest of Western Europe are. Declining populations leading to financial crisis -

"Nonetheless, serious problems remain. If not tackled promptly, these problems could undermine the prospects for robust longer-run economic growth and hinder Finland's adjustment to the impending demographic shock facing all of Europe: an insufficient number of workers to support a growing population of pensioners. In particular,

(1) outside the high tech sector productivity growth is rather low - labor productivity increased at an average annual rate of only 1.3 percent over the past three years; and

(2) a high rate of structural unemployment and a low average retirement age limit the effective labor supply. In the traditional sectors much of the economic growth of recent years has been based on the re-absorption of the large pool of cyclical unemployment. As this process will soon come to an end, the growth potential of the economy could be sharply curtailed. These problems are not unrelated to the high tax burden and to persistent rigidities in the product and labor markets."

http://www.imf.org/external/np/ms/2000/061200.htm

[Conspiracy Guy]

Sorry to hear that. The slim is everywhere I guess.

[razorback-bert]

State income tax
The state income tax can be either progressive or proportional. If the tax is determined in accordance with the progressive income tax scale, this means that an increase an income causes a proportionately greater increase in tax. Earned income (such as wages or pension and fringe benefits) is taxed in accordance with a progressive tax scale.

Proportional apportionment tax means that a flat tax rate will be applied throughout, irrespective of the amount of the income. In 2003 the tax rate on capital income (for example, rental income, capital gains, dividends from listed companies, etc.) of individuals, limited liability companies and cooperatives was 29 per cent. Approximately 50 per cent of the corporate income tax (tax rate 29%) is accounted to the State.

State wealth tax
In 2003 the minimum amount of assets subject to wealth tax is EUR 185,000. The rate of tax is EUR 80 for this amount and 0.9% for the amount exceeding EUR 185,000. The wealth tax of sole proprietors is reduced in that only 30% of the business assets are regarded as taxable assets.

Municipal and Church tax
The municipal income tax is determined according to a proportional tax base. In 2003 the municipal income tax rates vary from 15.5 to 20 per cent.

The church tax is also a proportional apportionment tax. The church tax rates vary from 1 to 2.25 per cent. Church tax is only paid by the members of the Finnish Evangelic Lutheran and Orthodox Churches or the Olaus Petri congregation. Corporations (limited liability companies and cooperatives) always pay the church tax since part of the corporate income tax (tax rate 29%) is paid to the Evangelic Lutheran and Orthodox congregations.


The general VAT rate is 22% of the price, excluding tax or other tax base.








Excise duties



An excise taxation harmonized by directives is applied to alcohol and alcoholic beverages, manufactured tobacco and mineral oils (liquid fuels) in the Member States of the European Union.

Additional national excise duties are levied on soft drinks, electricity and certain fuels in Finland. Lubricating oils and preparations are subject to a tax having the nature of an excise duty, and a landfill tax is collected on waste delivered to landfills. The provisions on the taxation procedure are given in the Excise Taxation Act.

Excise duties are collected on products manufactured in Finland, as well as those imported into Finland