> Sent: 17 April 2007 15:51
> To:   ##########
> Subject:      Handling of personal tax records in Finland
>
> Hi,
>
> My name is ######## and I am a US-Citizen resident of Finland of 15 years
>
> Just recently, I have come across some practices here that I find very alarming.
> There is a practice in Finland each year when the tax records are ready, to allow them
> to be published in a magazines, the Internet, newspapers, sold as mobile services in SMS messages, etc..
> There is a  magazine that contains long lists of names, income,
> tax percentage, and capital income, listed by municipality, also available digitally.
> There is also a mobile phone service selling the same information in text messages. Now,
> the magazine, Veropörssi can be found for download in all the major BitTorrent tracker
> sites all over the world. The official government TV/Radio broadcasting company in Finland
> lists the top 10 earners by municipality in an Internet site. So anyone basically can find
> where all the high income people in Finland live, for example. I personally feel like my
> privacy has been deeply insulted by all this, and it seems out of accordance with the EU
> data protection direcive, the exchange of information clauses in tax treaties, etc.
>
> I have put more complete information with names of companies, magazines, etc.
> that are publishing personal tax and income data, as well as info on laws, treaties, etc.
>  http://www.verosirkus.com
>
> The tax treaties Finland has signed with Australia and the US seem to assume
> that there is some sort of privacy protection in place. It is from an OECD template.
> If one of the signing countries ask for info, they only need to go to the BitTorrent tracker
> to find it.
>
> I was just wondering is there something I can do, and if OECD can issue a statement
> or do something to help. I think this would fit well under "harmful tax practices".
>
>
> Thank you,
>
> ############