Sign up to get Today’s Best Articles in your inbox
Join 350,000+ subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of
The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
Why a Finnish millionaire was fined 54,000 euros for speeding
'Finland is impossible to live in for rich people,' says multimillionaire now considering moving abroad
A Finnish multimillionaire who argues that rich people are discriminated against has threatened to emigrate after he was fined 54,024 euros (£39,000) for a speeding offence.
Reima Kuisla was driving 64mph in a 50mph zone in his Mercedes-Benz when he was pulled over by police and handed the large fine.
In Finland, traffic fines operate on a scale based on the offender's last declared income, with higher earners facing much harsher fines. Kuisla's last tax record showed he earned 6.5 million euros (£4.8m) in 2013.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Erkki Wuoma, a former advisor at the Ministry of Interior, once described the fine system as "a Nordic tradition", according to the Washington Post. "We have progressive taxation and progressive punishments. So the more you earn, the more you pay."
Kuisla took to Facebook to criticise the system. "Ten years ago I wouldn't have believed that I would seriously consider moving abroad," he said. "Finland is impossible to live in for certain kinds of people who have high incomes and wealth."
The businessman and race horse enthusiast is a vocal critic of Finland's tax system and argues that the laws discriminate against the rich.
"Finland needs hardworking and greedy entrepreneurs," he said according to the Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat. "I will admit I'm greedy. Few would admit it, but this is how society works. It makes no sense that success and determination are punished [in Finland]."
Sign up to get Today’s Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the day’s biggest news and analysis – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Some ordinary Finns, however, were unsympathetic. "Stop complaining. You were the one driving," said one commenter on the Finnish news website Iltalehti. "Small fines don't deter the rich – fines have to 'bite' everyone the same way, " said another.
Kuisla isn't the first high profile Finn to receive a hefty fine. Teemu Selänne, a Finnish ice hockey hero, was fined the equivalent of 39,000 euros for reckless driving in 2000, while a Nokia boss was fined 116,000 euros for speeding on his Harley Davidson motorbike in 2002.
