The Federation of Finnish Enterprises has issued a warning to Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's (NCP) government about the impacts of reducing fuel taxes aimed at curbing overall ballooning oil prices.
The SME interest group (Suomen Yrittäjät in Finnish) said that large-scale tax cuts and price regulation risks worsening the situation and increasing demand at a time of lower supply.
"When energy is scarce, the key is to adjust demand. Large-scale support measures can alleviate the immediate impact of prices, but at the same time they weaken energy saving incentives," the group's chief economist, Päivi Puonti, said in a press release.
The federation said it would be better to offer fuel support to those who most need it, as Finland and many other European countries cannot afford large-scale support programmes or permanent subsidisation arrangements.
Group: Open public procurement to competition
The entrepreneur's association also called for the government to strengthen the operating environment for budding businesses. As examples, it said that corporate taxes should not be raised and state corporate support funds should be secured.
It also said that reforms of the Public Procurement Act need to be implemented. The government is aiming to open public acquisitions to competition. The law firm Hannes Snellmann explained the planned reforms in a blog post last August — the English version of the text is at the bottom of the page.
The reforms look to "limit the public sector’s ability to procure from [public sector-owned companies] without arranging a tendering competition", according to the firm.
The SME group also called for an investigation into the possibility of extending working hours.
