Parliament | Sdp accidentally voted in favor of tightening the taxation of pensions

Sdp’s MPs voted on Wednesday in favor of tightening the taxation of pensioners. The chairman of the parliamentary group Tytti Tuppurainen (sd) said it was an accident.

The vote was about a member of parliament Saara Hyrkön (vihr) on the proposed statement, according to which the taxation of occupational pensions should be tightened. The Greens presented their proposal earlier in the fallwhen the opening caused a wide public debate.

In its entirety, Hyrkö’s proposed statement read as follows:

“Parliament requires that the government take steps to secure the sustainability of the occupational pension system and to implement a tax increase on occupational pensions equivalent to a one percent index brake, which increases solidarity between generations, without deepening pensioner poverty.”

In addition to the Green representatives, all 37 Sdp MPs who were present voted in favor of the proposal. Representatives of other parties voted against the proposal.

Sdp’s the voting behavior was surprising because the party objected presentation of the greens earlier in the fall. The purpose of the party was to oppose it now as well.

“It was a human error. There was a wrong entry in the voting instructions”, says Tytti Tuppurainen via text message.

Parliamentary groups usually give MPs voting recommendations in line with the parliamentary group’s line. Also secretary general of the Sdp parliamentary group Tiina Rytky tells HS that the voting instructions sent to the representatives were incorrect.

The mistake had no practical significance this time, as the other parliamentary groups voted against the proposal.

It is not possible to change the voting results of the plenary session afterwards. If they wish, MPs can request that an incorrect button press be recorded in the minutes, but it will not affect the official voting results.

The greens thinks that the taxation of the part of the annual gross pension income exceeding EUR 13,500 should be increased by 0.52 percentage points.

If the annual gross pension is less than 13,500 euros, the tax tightening would have no effect at all. The bigger the pension, the more tax extortion would bite.

Occupational pensions will be increased by 5.7 percent at the turn of the year. Tax extortion would therefore practically eat away a small part of the increase.

“There are really poor pensioners in Finland, but there are also pensioners who are quite well off. It would be desirable for them to participate in the adjustment of public finances”, reasoned the chairman of the parliamentary group Atte Harjanne (green) in October.