A majority of Finns favour reducing inheritance and gift taxes in business succession cases, according to a survey commissioned by the Finnish Business and Policy Forum (Eva). The proposal was backed by 61 percent of respondents.
The survey gauged public support for proposals made by the government-appointed growth taskforce led by Risto Murto, as well as other ideas recently debated in public discussions aimed at boosting economic growth.
The second most popular measure was the reduction of top marginal tax rates. Some 59 percent of respondents supported lowering taxation so that individuals would not have to pay more than 50 percent of their additional income in taxes.
Tax breaks for companies investing in research and development were supported by 56 percent of those surveyed. In addition, 55 percent backed government subsidies for the defence industry.
A proposal to eliminate inheritance and gift taxes entirely and replace them with higher capital gains taxes received a mixed response — 42 percent were in favour, while 29 percent opposed it.
The least popular idea was to sell state-owned shares in publicly listed companies and reinvest the proceeds into small and medium-sized enterprises. Only 21 percent of respondents supported this measure.
"Tax cuts are the fastest-acting growth measure available to the government. Given the tight state of public finances, Finns would rather see cuts targeted at the most effective areas for growth rather than across the board," said Emmiliina Kujanpää, Eva's lead tax policy expert, in a press release.
The survey, conducted by Taloustutkimus, gathered responses from 2,070 participants between 12 and 24 March via an online panel. The margin of error at the population level is between 2 and 3 percentage points in either direction.