Exempting low-income earners from broadcasting tax
Act amending section 2 of the Act on the Public Broadcasting Tax
The minimum amount of public broadcasting tax collected will rise from 51 euros to 70 euros. As a result of the change, around 300,000 of the lowest-income Finns will be completely exempt from paying the tax.
- Status
- Passed
- Submitted
- 1 Oct 2015
- Latest event
- 15 Dec 2015
- Votes
- 1
- Speeches
- 16
- Confirmed
- 30 Dec 2015
- Statute
- 1702/2015
- Source
- eduskunta.fi ↗
What is proposed
The minimum amount of public broadcasting tax levied on an individual will be raised from 51 euros to 70 euros from 1 January 2016.
What it means
The change will exempt around 300,000 low-income individuals from the public broadcasting tax, around 120,000 of whom are pensioners (including all those receiving only the guarantee pension or national pension). The disposable income of those excluded from the tax will increase by 51 to 70 euros per year. The income threshold for paying the tax will rise to around 10,914 euros per year for wage earners and to 10,294 euros per year for recipients of pension and benefit income. Tax revenue will decrease by around 20 million euros per year, but this will have no impact on the appropriation received by Yle.
How Parliament voted
The act ultimately passed without a vote: no MP proposed rejecting it in the final reading. The only vote concerned a detail of the act.
Lausumaehdotus, mietintö / Jukka Gustafsson
Yes won by 117–55.
The SPP voted with the government. 27 MPs were absent. Minutes ↗
Filled dot = yes, ring = no, grey = absent. The seating plan at the time of this vote is not archived, so MPs are grouped by party in indicative seats.
A passed act does not enter into force immediately: the President of the Republic confirms it, and it enters into force on the date set in the act. This act was confirmed on 30 Dec 2015.
Debate in the chamber
What was argued and where each group stood, followed by MPs' speeches verbatim from the parliamentary record. Speeches are shown in their original language.
16 speeches · 13 speakers · 2 debates
Key points of the debate
Parliament considered a proposal to exempt around 300,000 of the lowest-income Finns from the public broadcasting tax by raising the minimum threshold for tax payable. The legislative amendment received broad unanimous support in the chamber from all parliamentary groups because of its income distribution effects. Disagreement was mainly caused by the opposition's view that parliamentary procedures concerning Yle had been bypassed in the preparation of the proposal.
- Was the agreed parliamentary preparation bypassed in the changes to Yle's funding?
- Should the progression of the tax have been extended to higher earners and payments eased even more for low-income earners?
- National Coalition PartyIn favour
The group considered the reform very positive and capable of narrowing income disparities, as it removes the public broadcasting tax from a large group of low-income earners, such as those receiving only the guarantee pension or national pension.
”Tällä esityksellä 300 000 pienituloista yleisradioveroa tällä hetkellä maksavaa vapautetaan Yle-verosta, eli he eivät enää jatkossa joudu maksamaan”
— Timo Heinonen - Finns PartyIn favour
The group supported the proposal as an important improvement in the position of low-income earners and a correction of grievances in a difficult economic situation.
”Valtiovarainvaliokunta puoltaa tätä hallituksen esitystä, joka vapauttaisi verosta noin 300 000 pienituloisinta yleisradioveroa maksavaa.”
— Teuvo Hakkarainen - Centre PartyIn favour
The group considered the act a very good and socially fair helping hand for low-income earners and pensioners.
”Tämä hallituksen esitys on siis todella hyvä ja oikeudenmukainen uudistus, joka tukee kaikkein pienituloisimpia suomalaisia.”
— Ari Torniainen - Social DemocratsIn favour with reservations
The group supported exempting low-income earners from the tax, but criticised the Government for bypassing parliamentary preparation and tabled a statement on increasing the social fairness of the public broadcasting tax.
”No, tämä hallituksen esitys on hyvä, hyvä että pienituloisia vapautetaan. Kannatamme lain hyväksymistä, mutta esitämme lausumaa, jossa korostetaan, että Ylen asiat tulee valmistella parlamentaarisesti”
— Jukka Gustafsson - Left AllianceIn favour
The group supported exempting low-income earners from the tax as a positive step in terms of income distribution, but hoped for broader tax progression in the future and for Yle's operating capacity to be safeguarded.
”Mutta sinällään tämä itse veronmuutos on ihan paikallaan.”
— Kari Uotila - Christian DemocratsIn favour
The group considered the proposal a good and commendable measure for low-income earners and accepted freezing Yle's index adjustment as part of balancing the public finances.
”Tästä esityksestä on syytä reilusti antaa kiitos hallitukselle, eli pidän tätä hyvänä esityksenä.”
— Päivi Räsänen
This digest was generated by AI from 16 speeches 13 Sep 2026. Group positions are read from the speeches, not from votes; quotations were checked verbatim against the record.
Yleiskeskustelu päättyi. Eduskunta hyväksyi hallituksen esitykseen HE 58/2015 vp sisältyvän lakiehdotuksen sisällön mietinnön mukaisena. Lakiehdotuksen ensimmäinen käsittely päättyi.
Keskustelu päättyi ja asian käsittely keskeytettiin.
Stages of consideration
The bill's path from the preliminary debate to the decision, as recorded by Parliament.
- 1 Oct 2015Eduskuntakäsittelyn vireilletulo · Valtiovarainministeriö
- 7 Oct 2015Lähetekeskustelu · Täysistunto
- 1 Dec 2015Valiokunnan mietintö tai lausunto · valtiovarainvaliokunta
- 3 Dec 2015Ensimmäinen käsittely · Täysistunto
- 9 Dec 2015Toinen käsittely · Täysistunto
- 14 Dec 2015Eduskunnan vastaus ja kirjelmä
Decisions by law proposal1
- 1Laki yleisradioverosta annetun lain 2 §:n muuttamisestaHyväksytty · 1702/2015 · 30 Dec 2015
Proposed law text
The law proposals in the bill as the Government presented them. The final act may differ after committee consideration.
The law text is shown in Finnish or Swedish from Parliament's official documents; it is not translated into English.
Laki yleisradioverosta annetun lain 2 §:n muuttamisesta
Eduskunnan päätöksen mukaisesti muutetaan yleisradioverosta annetun lain (484/2012) 2 §:n 2 momentti, sellaisena kuin se on laissa 1073/2013, seuraavasti:
2 §Henkilön yleisradiovero
Jos 1 momentin mukaan laskettu vero on vähemmän kuin 70 euroa, sitä ei maksuunpanna.
§
Tämä laki tulee voimaan päivänä kuuta 20 .
Lakia sovelletaan ensimmäisen kerran verovuodelta 2016 toimitettavassa verotuksessa.
Main content of the bill (official)
The summary and title were produced with AI on 2 Sep 2026. They are not official documents – check the details in the original bill. The title and summaries are machine translations of the Finnish AI summaries. Speeches and quotations are always shown in their original language.