According to the survey, companies also considered increasing local contracts (45%) and investments in skills and training (39%) as important measures to improve competitiveness and employment in Finland. In the survey, the companies could choose the three best.
Businesses expect the government to increase labor immigration (31%), streamline permit processes (28%), invest in transportation routes (28%), and invest in energy production and green transitions (27%) to improve competitiveness and employment rates. .
“A competitive economy is created when the labor market works, taxation encourages and work is always profitable for both those working and those not working. This is the case, for example, in Sweden and Denmark, where public finances have been taken care of. There, the labor market and income and social security encourage work. Finland has lagged far behind , but the future government has a chance to fix this”, says Juho RomakkaniemiCEO of the Central Chamber of Commerce.
In the chamber of commerce’s survey, reducing labor taxation was the most popular tax reduction measure. 71% of companies would lower labor taxation. Companies could choose their three most important discount taxes. Along with lowering labor taxation, lowering business taxes (45%) and value added taxes (37%) were seen as important. About 14 percent of the respondents were of the opinion that taxes should not be reduced at all.
According to Romakkaniemi, the incoming government must bring Finland back to the Nordic labor line, where a competitive economy is not stifled by harsh labor taxes.
“Labor taxation in Finland is the most progressive in the world, creates income traps and weakens the incentives to work. Strict labor taxation stifles our competitiveness. The corporate tax system must remain internationally competitive, which requires lowering labor taxation. Companies also see that lowering labor taxation is more important than lowering taxes directly related to business activities”, Romakkaniemi says.
According to the chambers of commerce, lowering labor taxation should be implemented as part of the green tax reform, so that the focus of taxation shifts from labor taxation to consumption and environmental taxes.
HT
Source: The Nordic Page