Episode 172 · 2023-01-27 · 45:44 · Original in Finnish
Cut taxes on work, curb the waste | Ville Valkonen, Heikki Vestman | Negotiator 172
Originally published as “Työn verot alas Tuhlaus kuriin | Ville Valkonen Heikki Vestman | Neuvottelija 172”
National Coalition MPs Ville Valkonen and Heikki Vestman argue that the term's greatest failure is not only the money handed out but everything left undone. They propose 8 to 10 billion euros of consolidation over two parliamentary terms and a billion in relief on the taxation of work, because marginal rates destroy the incentive to take on extra hours. Vestman sets out the electricity crisis remedies in unusual detail, from a lower technical price cap to demand flexibility. Recorded during the 2023 election campaign, with both guests as candidates.
Core theses
- The argument about tax on work is about marginal rates on extra hours rather than about average rates, which is a different claim from the usual one.
- Consolidation of 8 to 10 billion over two terms is the number, and the episode is specific that it cannot be done in one.
- The electricity crisis section is unusually concrete: a lower technical price cap and demand flexibility rather than subsidies.
- Recorded during an election campaign with both guests standing as candidates and no opposing voice present.
Watch and listen
Key moments
- 00:00 — Intro
- 00:31 — Introducing Ville Valkonen and Heikki Vestman
- 01:01 — Where has the government failed
- 04:35 — Why income tax specifically should be cut, including in the upper brackets
- 09:25 — The value of extra work by people already employed
- 10:05 — How the National Coalition would reduce the government's spending
- 13:30 — The inevitability of the next government's consolidation task
- 17:10 — The importance of growth
- 17:35 — Regional effects
- 20:40 — Cutting red tape
- 23:37 — How the energy crisis should have been solved in Finland
- 36:40 — Why Marin's bloc-election move was a mistake
- 39:05 — The government's unfocused EU policy
- 44:03 — Valkonen on Varsinais-Suomi themes
- 44:46 — Vestman on Uusimaa themes
- 45:18 — Outro
Summary
National Coalition MPs Ville Valkonen and Heikki Vestman argue that the term’s greatest failure is not only the money handed out but everything left undone. They propose 8 to 10 billion euros of consolidation over two parliamentary terms and a billion in relief on the taxation of work, because marginal rates destroy the incentive to take on extra hours. Vestman sets out the electricity crisis remedies in unusual detail, from a lower technical price cap to demand flexibility. Recorded during the 2023 election campaign, with both guests as candidates.
The tax argument, stated precisely
Not that average tax is too high but that the marginal rate on extra hours removes the reason to work them. That is a narrower and more testable claim than the usual one, and the billion euros of proposed relief is sized against it rather than against the total.
The energy section
Unusually concrete for a campaign episode: a lower technical price cap and demand flexibility rather than consumer subsidies. Whether it would have worked is arguable; that it is a mechanism rather than a slogan is not.
Watch
The recording lives on the Neuvottelija channel: Työn verot alas Tuhlaus kuriin | Ville Valkonen Heikki Vestman | Neuvottelija 172. A Finnish edition of this episode is published at www.neuvottelija.fi.
In depth
The Neuvottelija AI editions carry a long-form write-up of this episode: English · suomeksi.
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People and topics
Guests: Ville Valkonen, Heikki Vestman