Finland’s political parties have drawn sharp lines over tax rises and spending cuts as they prepare for the 2027 parliamentary election. The Left Alliance has presented measures worth more than €9 billion, centred on higher taxes, while the National Coalition Party and Finns Party want most fiscal adjustment to come from lower public spending.
The dispute dominated parliamentary groups’ summer meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, with parties setting out positions ahead of the autumn political term and next year’s election.
Left Alliance chair Minja Koskela said in Jyväskylä that her party had assembled measures worth about €9 billion to strengthen public finances. She said the package would not be implemented during a single four-year parliamentary term.
“A €9 billion one-off adjustment would, with high probability, become a brake on growth,” Koskela said. She said decisions would need to reflect the economic cycle and employment conditions.
The Left Alliance proposals rely on taxes rather than cuts to benefits and public services.
The largest single measure would change income, capital gains and dividend taxation. The party estimates that the changes would raise about €3 billion. Its plan includes stronger income-tax progression, closer alignment of earned-income and capital-income tax scales and removal of a tax benefit for dividends from unlisted companies.
The party would also raise corporation tax to 21 per cent, which it estimates would produce €1.3 billion, and introduce a wealth tax on large fortunes worth about €1 billion.
Other proposals include taxes on financial activity, aviation, sugary products, packaging, mining waste and some securities transactions. The party would restore fuel taxation to its 2023 level and link it to an index.
It also proposes removing several tax subsidies linked to fuels, forestry and fossil-energy use.
One element differs from the tax measures. The party proposes counting about €1 billion in indirect costs from Finland’s conscription system towards defence spending when measuring national commitments.
Koskela rejected the estimate that Finland needs €8 billion to €11 billion in net fiscal adjustment during the next parliamentary term.
“No party will implement the debt-brake adjustment of €8–11 billion,” she said. She said an adjustment of that scale would threaten welfare-state services.
The Left Alliance is the only parliamentary party that has not committed to the cross-party debt-brake framework.
The party also wants to restore measures removed during the current parliamentary term, including child supplements to unemployment benefits, protected earnings thresholds for some benefits and tax deductibility for trade union membership fees. It is also proposing a new form of adult education support.
Prime Minister and National Coalition Party leader Petteri Orpo set out a different position at his party’s meeting in Salo.
Orpo said the next government should seek at least €8 billion in adjustment mainly through spending cuts rather than higher taxation. He said earned-income taxation should not rise and should be reduced where fiscal conditions permit.
Orpo also said the pension system would be examined during the next parliamentary term. He rejected the idea of using defence spending as a main source of savings.
“Independence is not something from which you trim a little,” Orpo said.
Finance Minister and Finns Party chair Riikka Purra also backed a programme based mainly on expenditure reductions.
Speaking at her party’s meeting in Imatra on Tuesday, Purra said the Finns Party would not propose higher taxes on work or entrepreneurship. She left room for limited tax measures, including possible changes to the taxation of large foundations.
Purra described the Social Democratic Party’s proposal for a separate defence tax as “crazy” and argued that higher taxes would weaken economic growth.
Christian Democratic leader Sari Essayah said her party wanted 85 to 90 per cent of the required adjustment to come from spending reductions and structural reforms. She said taxes should account for no more than 10 to 15 per cent.
The Social Democrats support a different balance.
Parliamentary group chair Tytti Tuppurainen said in Oulu that the party would not rule out either spending reductions or higher taxation. The SDP has previously indicated that about half of the adjustment required under the debt framework should come from taxes and half from spending measures.
Tuppurainen criticised the National Coalition Party for demanding billions of euros in cuts without specifying where most of them would fall.
The Greens have also rejected an adjustment based entirely on spending cuts.
Green League chair Sofia Virta told Helsingin Sanomat that her party would not join a government committed to around €8 billion in direct cuts. She said reductions on that scale would affect children and young people.
The Greens have not yet published a full fiscal programme.
HT