Teemu Keskisarja (PS) attended a question-time debate in the Parliament House on 3 October 2024. Keskisarja and Onni Rostila, also of the Finns Party, have proposed that mothers who have given birth to at least three children be exempt partly of fully from the income tax in order to elevate the long-slumping birth rate in Finland. (Vesa Moilanen – Lehtikuva)
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TWO LAWMAKERS from the Finns Party, Teemu Keskisarja and Onni Rostila, have presented a motion to parliament calling for a wide range of incentives to increase the number of births in Finland, reports Helsingin Sanomat.
The measures proposed by the lawmakers include a larger child tax allowance, longer earnings-based parental leave, and compensation for housing or student loan repayments for mothers who have their firstborn before the age of 30.
The most surprising proposal is found at the end of the motion, Helsingin Sanomat wrote on Monday. Keskisarja and Rostila suggest that mothers who have given birth to at least three children should be exempt partly or fully from the income tax. According to Statistics Finland, the country is home to 481,943 such mothers, meaning the proposal would amount to relieving over a tenth of taxpayers of the income tax.
The lawmakers argued in the motion that exceptional measures are required to address the slumping birth rate. Statistics Finland in May reported that the rate fell to 1.26 in 2023, its lowest level on records dating back to 1776.
“There has not been a single aberration as fateful as this in the history of our population. Without children, the economy, society and culture will inevitably be ruined,” the initiative reads.
Rostila also commented on the motion on social media, admitting that the price tag for the proposed measures would be measured in the billions.
The duo also justified the proposals by pointing to a recent report by Anna Rotkirch, a research professor at the Family Federation of Finland. Rotkirch floated in her report the idea that some financial incentive could be made conditional on having the first child before the age of 30, pointing to studies suggesting that many start a family at such a late age that they ultimately fall short of their desired family size.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
