Parliament | The member of parliament of the Basic Finns billed almost 12,000 euros in mileage allowances – In the background, the sloppy reform made in the parliament

Basic Finns Congressman Ari Koponen has billed the parliament for 11,970 euros in tax-free mileage allowances in five months this year. It was reported on Wednesday Evening newspaper.

Koponen lives in Kanta-Hämee in Ypäjä, about 140 kilometers away in the parliament.

Administrative Director of the Parliament Pertti Rauhio says that Kopose has permission to use his own car for work trips, because the public connections from Ypäjä to Helsinki are bad.

Koponen The exceptionally large amount of compensation is also explained by the fact that last spring the parliament relaxed the travel rule for MPs regarding their own car. Since last spring, it has replaced the use of one’s own car for representatives’ business trips between home and parliament, more generously than before.

According to the travel rules for members of parliament, the parliament reimburses domestic trips related to the performance of the representative’s duties. In principle, trips related to parliamentary work must be made using public transport.

The use of your own car is reimbursed between home and the nearest public transport station. The Parliament also pays the parking costs at the stations.

So the starting point is that the representatives go to work on public transport, not with their own car.

MPs who receive an increased expense allowance – i.e. those representatives who live outside the capital region and at a distance of more than 30 kilometers from the parliament, can however also receive compensation for the use of their own car.

My own the use of a car for MPs’ business trips has traditionally been restricted in many ways.

First of all, the travel time must be “significantly reduced” by using a car. Another condition is that tax-free expense allowances have previously only been received for two round trips between home and parliament per week.

However, in March, the administrative director of the parliament, Pertti Rauhio, proposed to the chancellery committee that this limit of two weekly trips be removed from the travel regulations. That’s what happened.

In his memorandum, Rauhio justified the change by saying that public transport services have been cut in sparsely populated areas. According to Rauhio, this has led to the fact that representatives have an increasing need to be reimbursed for the use of their own car.

Cutting public transport services in sparsely populated areas is not a new phenomenon, but bus lines have been closed for years. Why was the travel rule for representatives relaxed just last spring?

According to Rauhio, the reason behind the change is the corona period. MPs were then free to use their own car for business trips. “I’m not saying that the habit has stayed on after the corona,” says Rauhio.

Although Rauhio doesn’t say it out loud, in practice, after the corona, the desire of representatives to use their own car for work trips has increased significantly. So it was decided to change the travel rules.

Consequently, MPs living outside the capital region currently receive a tax-free expense allowance, as long as they can prove that using their own car “significantly reduces travel time”.

But what is the essential reduction in travel time?

There are no unambiguous numerical instructions for this in the parliament’s travel regulations. Instead, the parliamentary office defines the matter on a case-by-case basis for each representative. The office examines the matter both in terms of the absolute amount of time saved and in relation to the total travel time, i.e. how many percent does it reduce the travel time.

Although there are no precise definitions written into the travel regulations, administrative director Rauhio states in his memo to the chancellery committee that as a guideline, using a car should save travel time by at least a quarter and at least 30 minutes.

In addition, representatives can be reimbursed for the use of their own car by decision of the administrative director for “special reasons” – such as due to health conditions.

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A renovation is about to start in the Parliament, which will make the charging system in the parking garage pay.

Iltalehten according to representative Ari Koponen has made 80 Ypäjä–parliament–Ypäjä journeys in his own car in February–July this year. In addition to the round trips, Koponen has made six one-way trips.

The Parliament pays tax-free mileage allowances to MPs in accordance with the state’s 2024 travel rules, so that for the first 5,000 kilometers of the year, allowances are paid at 57 cents per kilometer and after that at 50 cents. Thus, Koponen has received a tax-free mileage allowance of 160 euros for his round trips, and then 140 euros.

Koponen was by far the representative who invoiced the most mileage allowances this year. In second place is the representative of the Basic Finns Rami Lehtinento whom 9,553 euros in compensation have been paid in five months.

Koponen According to Iltalehti, he drives his work trips with an electric car or a hybrid, so the tax-free mileage allowances are very profitable for him. Namely, MPs can charge their cars for free in the parliament parking garage.

However, this is about to change, says Pertti Rauhio, the head of parliament’s administration. A renovation is about to start in the Parliament, which will make the charging system in the parking garage pay.

“The renovation is under way and will be completed later this year,” says Rauhio. He estimates that the representatives will have to pay for charging the car from the beginning of the year at the latest.