• legal considerations
• cultural and intercultural considerations
• Human Rights and security considerations
• Political and national considerations
• Business considerations
• Spiritual and moral considerations
• Privacy considerations
• Considerations for the futures
• The Finnish day fine system and your rights
• EU Fines
• The black market economy and corruption.
  

Welcome to verosirkus.

Nowadays, in Finland, peoples' personal income tax information is sold for money, put in tabloid magazines, put in newspapers, sold through mobile services, and spread throughout the Internet. If you have worked here for a year or more, your name, salary, tax percentage, capital income, municipality and possibly even wealth will be found in some or all of these places. One is left just scratching his or her head and wondering, "Am I really in the EU? Is this for real?" Welcome to the tax circus. Step right up and see the spectacle with your own eyes.

This website will show, using official and legal documents, that Finland's public tax records are without valid purpose, there to entertain the masses and to make money for the media. It will also show that one of the most fundamental rights of every person who lives in European Union is casually discarded, and how foundational European Union legislation is being made into a mockery. We will also see how it is in conflict with international treaties and guidelines, ones that Finland has signed. We will also see how this is in conflict with Finland's own constitution. And last, but not least, we will see how some peoples' basic human rights are even being broken.

Background

the problem

Legal considerations

In the European Union, everyone is supposed to have certain basic rights, which are defined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights for the European Union. The right we are concerned with here is Article 8. This helps us to understand the EU Personal Data Protection Law.

Protection of personal data

1. Everyone has the right to the protection of personal data concerning him or her.
2. Such data must be processed fairly for specified purposes and on the basis of the consent of the person concerned or some other legitimate basis laid down by law. Everyone has the right of access to data which has been collected concerning him or her, and the right to have it rectified.
3. Compliance with these rules shall be subject to control by an independent authority.

The EU Personal Data Protection directive 95/46 EC describes what personal data is 2(a) and how it is to be used. Finland was supposed to have made its own national legislation to be in line with this directive. The current practice in Finland is out of accordance with the EU legislation in at least the following ways:

1. The personal data is used for something other than what is was collected for, without the permission of the data subjects. The data is often a result of a private contract between an employee and employer. It is collected for taxation purposes, and then used commercially and for entertainment.  6 (all)
   
2. The personal data is used directly by the police for something other than what it was collected for, and used outside the scope of investigating,  preventing or prosecuting a serious crime. 13:1(d)
   
3. The personal data is released to third parties without permission of the data subjects. 7(a)
   
4. The personal data is published without the permission of the data subjects. (33), 7(e), 7(f)
   
5. The personal data is allowed to cross international borders without any sort of guarantee on its security or any control whatsoever. (57), 25:1
   
6. There is no data recipient who is held responsible for the data being used for legitimate purposes. 10(c), 11(c),12(a)
   
7. The privacy and security of the data subjects is compromised. (33),
   
8. There is no control to ensure the data is going to be used legitimately. (57), 25:1
9. The right to privacy is not respected. 1:1
10. No information is given to the data subjects regarding this processing. 11(all)
11. The right to rectify the data is forfeit when the data is uncontrolledly circulating in the Internet. 10(c), 11(c)
12. The right to object to this is not respected. 14(a) The Finnish tax authority does not pay any heed whatsoever to objections.
    

1. They are sold by the cental tax authority to the press. The central tax authority has a formalized price list and order form for buying this kind of personal data. There is no right to object to this.
2. They are put into ring binders in paper form in the municipal tax offices. These are accessible by anyone. A company called Satamedia goes to the individual tax offices, copies these ring binders, and compiles them into a magazine called Veropörssi and sells it. It is sold online, in shops, and as a CD-ROM version. The CD-ROM version ends up in the Internet.

A paradox exists in that a citizen or resident from another EU country where tax record privacy is enjoyed as a basic, assumed right, when moving to Finland to work, will automatically forfeit that right. The EU is supposed to promote easy movement of goods and people within its borders. Differing practices in such basic rights and privacies doesn't promote the free movement of people between countries. Many foreigners don't realize this when they move here. One easily makes the mistake of assuming that a modern, highly educated, industrialized, democratic, information society country like Finland, a member of the EU and OECD would honour the same basic rights. Let's face it, it is rude and inconsiderate for Finland to treat her guests in this manner without their permission. It is also just as rude to treat her unwilling natives this way, without their consent.

Human Rights and Security considerations

Another problem about making a public circus out of peoples' income tax records is that, in some parts of the world, it can open a person up to risks. Having this kind of circus can and will open up Finnish residents up to dangers like kidnapping, robbery, extortion, scammers, identity theft, mafia activity, government corruption, etc. If it doesn't happen here, it can happen abroad. Every salary-earning person in Finland is relatively wealthy in many parts of the world. A clerk in some resort hotel who is making 200 dollars a month, for example, can find out how much money the Finnish guests make without much effort. Also some immigrants who are resident here come from very corrupt, poor, and war-torn countries, and perhaps don't want to put people back home at risk by having the wrong people associate them with how much they earn here. A corrupt government could start leaning on someone's mother and father, for example, for "extra taxes" on what their son or daughter is making in Finland or on the remittances they are paying to support them.

An underage pair of siblings didn't know the details of how their parents had gotten some corporate stock as a future investment for them. They invested the stock in such a way that the dividends were reinvested back into buying more stock. The stock had been growing steadily, but suddenly went through a period of rapid growth. The children's tax records showed up in Veropörssi like every other taxpayer's. This ended up being very distressing for the children. There were lots of accusations made to the family along with a death threat. So besides allowing the making a public circus out of peoples' tax records, the Finnish government also allows them to even publish children's tax records. See the parlaiment discussion about this. This brings to mind the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. See article 12. A basic human right is being broken here.

       Article 12.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Protection of Privacy Orders from the Court are sometimes not honoured

Recently, there have been reports of people, who for some reason, have needed to get a protection-of-privacy order from the court, who have had their tax records end up in publications regardless. A protection-of-privacy order should restrict officials from giving out information about the individual that would reveal his or her location. One reason for having a protection-of-privacy order is to protect one from stalking, a harrassing ex-partner, organized crime and so forth. In other words, the individual could be at risk to his or her personal safety or even life. It is very serious when the tax officials publish or release this information and reveal the location of the person.

Political and national considerations

Some people offer the excuse for this that this is "Social Welfare" at work. Canada, New Zealand, Israel, and Portugal are also Social Welfare states. But do the people of those countries buy magazines with each others' salaries in them from the convenient store? Do their governments allow a free-for-all circus with their income and tax data? Norway might have some sort of circus of its own, but it is not in the EU. Sweden has or had some system in place where people were notified if their personal data was accessed. Almost all or all the other nations seem to interpret the Personal Data Protection directive in the same way - protect the data subject's privacy.

The courts and parlaiment offer arguments in defense of this circus, such as "freedom of speech". What is a better example of "freedom of speech", this website, or a list of names, salaries, tax percentages, capital income, and municipalities of private people? Regarding "journalistic use", this data referred to here was NOT collected for journalistic use, it was a result of a private contract made between a person and his or her employer, which the employer is required to keep confidential. When the data is used publically or for something other than its original use, the permission of the data subject is required.

This is from Finland's own constitution:
Section 10 - The right to privacy

• Everyone's private life, honour and the sanctity of the home are guaranteed. More detailed provisions on the protection of personal data are laid down by an Act.
• The secrecy of correspondence, telephony and other confidential communications is inviolable.
• Measures encroaching on the sanctity of the home, and which are necessary for the purpose of guaranteeing basic rights and liberties or for the investigation of crime, may be laid down by an Act. In addition, provisions concerning limitations of the secrecy of communications which are necessary in the investigation of crimes that jeopardise the
• security of the individual or society or the sanctity of the home, at trials and security checks, as well as during the deprivation of liberty may be laid down by an Act.

From the Charter of the Council of the European Union: This is the foundational list of rights for people in the European Union.
Article 8:  Protection of personal data

The text "or some other legitimate basis laid down by law" might jump out at someone who is eager to defend the Finnish tax circus, but what is the legitimate basis? See the discussion in parlaiment about the real reasons for continuing to have public tax records. See the last paragraphs, in the answer from the Vice Minister of Finance. There is no legitimate basis. The reasons to keep public tax records are purely political, human curiosity, and so the media can make money. Parlaiment can get rid of the circus anytime.

Now, because of the irresponsibility and carelessness of the Finnish government in ensuring this right for its citizens and residents, the 2005 data from Veropörssi has ended up in the Internet. Now that data will be in the Internet for years to come, even after the Finnish goverment puts its legislation in line with the European Union legislation. Because of that, our right to rectify the data is forfeited. If there are mistakes in that data, noone will be able to do anything about it. That data will be there affecting peoples' lives and the Finnish economy for a long time.

Let's have a look at this text from the Finnish Penal Code (Suomen Rikoslaki) (relevant parts are highlighted)

Chapter 38 - Data and communications offences (578/1995)

Chapter 5 — Transfer of personal data to outside the European Union

Now let's have a look at the part of the Finnish Personal Data Law that this references, chapter 5.

Chapter 5 — Transfer of personal data to outside the European Union

Section 22 — General prerequisites

(1) Personal data may be transferred to outside the European Union or the European Economic Area only if the country in question guarantees an adequate level of data protection.

(2) The adequacy of the level of data protection shall be evaluated in the light of the nature of the data, the purpose and duration of the intended processing, the country of origin and the country of final destination, as well as the general and sectoral legal provisions, codes of conduct and security measures applied in that country.

Section 23 — Grounds for derogation

However, section 22 does not prevent the transfer of data if:

(1) the data subject has unambiguously consented to the transfer;

(2) the data subject has given an assignment for the transfer, or this is necessary in order to perform a contract to which the data subject is a party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject before entering into a contract;

(3) the transfer is necessary in order to make or perform an agreement between the controller and a third party and in the interest of the data subject;

(4) the transfer is necessary in order to protect the vital interests of the data subject;

(5) the transfer is necessary or called for by law for securing an important public interest or for purposes of drafting or filing a lawsuit or for responding to or deciding such a lawsuit;

(6) the transfer is made from a file, the disclosure of data from which, either generally or for special reasons, has been specifically provided in an Act; or

(7) the controller, by means of contractual terms or otherwise, gives adequate guarantees of the protection of the privacy and the rights of individuals.

Our personal data being in the Internet without our explicit permission is illegal here by Finland's own Penal Code and the Finnish Personal Data Law. The data being in the Internet is essentially personal data being allowed outside the EU and European Economic Area without any control.

One begins to wonder about Finland's future in the EU. There are countries very eager to join and integrate, who are making very fast progress, and there is Finland, where the government is deliberately making as little as possible effort. Little Estonia will soon surpass Finland for being integrated legally, economically, and socially into the EU. There are so many ways Finland is incompatible with the EU and many issues the government is just procrastinating with, such as the taxation on new and imported used cars.

With this Finland risks acquiring a national image that is an image of ridicule. A country that gives more importance to have private peoples' salaries as tabloid type entertainment than to human rights, its own constitution, EU legislation,  and international treaties and guidelines that it has agreed to follow will be considered a country whose government cannot be trusted. Already one can find articles in the Internet in Croatian, Russian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Czech, English, etc. where people are ridiculing the Veropörssi phenomenon we see in Finland or then they are talking about how to download Finnish tax records from the BitTorrent trackers.

Business considerations

Privacy considerations

If the government of Finland has this little respect for private peoples' privacy with our employment contracts and the money that which we work hard for and pay taxes with, then what other things are we in the gradual process of loosing our privacy in? Will our political, religious or other preferences also be published in the tabloid magazines in the future, fetched straight from personal data registries and sanctioned by the government? After all, they say in the courts that publishing private peoples' personal economic data is "freedom of speech". How about our medical records? Will someone have "freedom of speech" with my medical records, too?  People's voting records and political preferences are interesting info, isn't that a good enough reason to have that as well in the tabloids? Couldn't the "freedom of speech" rationale be used here too? What about our buying habits? We are quite near to this happening with the current rationalizations used. Can a government that allows peoples' personal economic data to be published in tabloid magazines really be trusted with personal data, especially when they have signed various agreements and treaties saying that they will protect peoples' privacy. History shows us that they are untrustworthy with personal data.

The Finnish Day Fine System and your rights

In Finland, salary based fines are used quite liberally as a punishment for various types of minor infractions. It is a good idea to be aware of this, since it is the police that actually determine the fine by accessing peoples' salary information from their database using mobile phones. They do not have any data to access on people who don't reside in Finland. This creates a situation where your rights are unclear. These instructions apply to tourists visiting Finland who reside in another country, but especially also to Finnish citizens who live and work in another country, who are visiting Finland.

1. If you get pulled over for speeding or a similar petty infringement, the police may ask you what your income is, depending on the seriousness of the infraction.
   
2. If you tell your income, that information can be made public if you contest the charges in court, or end up in court otherwise.
   
3. If you are a well known person, or if you have an income level that is extraordinary, it will probably go to the press, that is the national and international media and the Internet. Google "Finnish Speeding  Tickets" and you will see faces there, together with an income from speeding tickets given even 5 years ago.
   
4. If you don't want this to happen to you, you can use the tactic that Finnish people used before the police got their database that they access with their mobile phones. When the police ask you for your income level, say "I don't know". Apparently, it is nearly impossible to prove that it is a lie. "I don't know" will at least protect your privacy. Lying is a crime and can be punishable by imprisonment. Giving no information can also be considered a crime.
   
5. The government of Finland should be using the framework of the tax treaties that they have signed with various countries, but those conditions basically allow the use of financial records to enforce tax laws or punish a serious crime. Most countries won't send private data like this very easily. Probably few or no countries would send this kind of data to Finland, when they know how insecure it is here and how easily it can end up in the press and/or internet.The EU Personal Data Protecion directive requires countries to ascertain the level of personal data protection before sending personal data to another country. You clearly cannot assume that just because a country is in the European Union that its standard of personal data protection is adequate.
   
6. The European Commission is investigating the day fine system.
   
7. Drive according to the rules. The general speed limit in Finland is 80 if it is not otherwise marked. Inside the cities and towns, it is generally 50. A sign that has a symbol with a cluster of buildings means slow down to 50 km/h - it is a residential area. In downtown Helsinki and other large cities it is 40. It is not always clearly marked when to drive more slowly, nor is it always clearly marked when you can speed up again.
8. If you feel like your rights have been violated, file a complaint to the European Commission. That is what they are there for.

Unfortunately, for people residing in Finland, their personal economic data is up for grabs for anyone in the world to access. That is what makes this system nationally discriminatory, since the police can only get tax records of people who live in Finland into their cell phones. Do you ever wonder what happens when a foreigner is caught speeding on camera? I certainly wonder.

If you have gotten one of these ridiculous speeding tickets that are talked about so much, then you should contact the European Commission about it. File a complaint. See the section here titled "what can be done". Include your speeding ticket and all the relevant documents. They are aware of the day fine system and its problems. The more cases they become familiar with, the better the picture they can get. This is especially important if you are not a resident of Finland, and you have had your reported income broadcasted all over the media. It might also not hurt if you contact the embassy of the country you reside in and tell about this. If your country has signed a tax treaty with Finland, they may wonder why the police is making you tell your income and the have the threat of the court broadcasting it in the press instead of using the terms of the tax treaty or the framework of the personal data protection directive.

EU Fines

The Finnish government, together with all the other EU member state governments, have the right now to send a fine to another EU country to be collected. Finland is on a collision course with this in one of two ways:
1. Finland may actually get ahold of some income information of a high income resident of another county and send that person a salary based fine for a 5 or 6 figure number. The person's income may end up in the media in the normal, expected Finnish way. It also may cause outrage in the media in the person's home country, and the other country's court system may end up needing to overturn the fine. The Finnish government may be accused of corruption. There could be legal repercussions in that country against Finland for the loss of privacy. It could trigger international court actions, investigations, action from the European Union level, or action from an international court.
2. Finland will send normal types of fines of a few hundred EUR to people who reside in other countries, which will go unnoticed for the most part, but it will be nationally discriminatory against the people who reside in Finland. Something like this could in up in the European Commission or European Court of Justice.

the parties involved

Finnish court decisions, laws, and official discussions

international treaties, laws, and guidelines

what can be done

Write your parlaiment representative. You can tell them you think the
the EU Personal Data Protection law should be followed in Finland like it is
in the rest of the EU. You can also state that you oppose your personal data being
treated in the manner described here, a manner which is not in accordance with
this law.

Write the tax authority. Tell them that you object to them releasing your personal data in this manner.

File a complaint against the Republic of Finland to the EU Commission Secretariat General.
Here is a ready filled complaint form that quotes all the relevant laws. Just add your name,
address, phone number, e-mail address, and at the end, tick whether you want it public or
private. Send it to:

Help me find information about the history of this tax circus and translate this page into Finnish, Swedish and the official languages of the EU. I want to know if there has been any discussion in Parlaiment, what was discussed, etc. Was there any specifc person or group behind this current "circus"? The names of the parlaiment members behind this would be nice to list here, especially if they are still there.

File a crime report at the police station if you feel a crime has been committed against you. If you feel you have been discriminated against or you feel like your personal data has been abused, file a crime report. There are links here to the EU Personal Data Protection law. The Finnish Criminal law covers discrimination. (syrjintä)

Write the Data Protection Ombudsman office in Finland.

links

Chart of EU Nations: tax (salary) privacy: yes or no

contact