Sunday 28 January 2024

Today is Presidential Election Day in Finland, which explains the election posters, national flags and polling booths that we have noticed recently. Their process is a bit like the US but less complicated and certainly without the characters and associated media of the US 2024 presidential campaign. Pity hey?

You may recall that we have had many excursions to the vast number of second hand shops here in Helsinki, looking for an outfit for Flashy to wear to the Chaine Chapitre dinner this week. As recently as last year, Finnish consumers were the world’s most diligent buyers of second-hand products. I reckon there are more stores than cafes and they are crammed full of clothes, all beautifully sorted and labelled and pretty cheap too. If I had room in my bag, I’d get some decent leather coats.

Now, another instalment of crazy Finnish things: Tax information here is public, so everyone has access to your tax return information. Anyone can call the tax office and find out how much their friends and enemies make!

The tax office will annually send a list of high earners to the media, who publish articles about it to the public. It’s even got its own name—tax porn.

Everyone loves knowing how much everyone else makes. Some Finns claim that there are benefits to this system. Allegedly, it promotes transparency and decreases corruption. And, if you’re applying for a job, you can know what the fair market salary is.

Packing for the ferry trip to Estonia tomorrow. Over and back for a day trip. Getting closer to Russia!