LA 1/2023.

I'm always been a little bit curious about bill proposals that members of the parliament make. Most of them seem not to go anywhere. For example, Finns Party representative Sebastian Tynkkynen made a proposal to ban loot boxes with six representatives backing him. There was a short conversation on the Parlament floor about it and the committee did nothing about it.

Long story short, I was checking on the parliament website. I didn't think that there would be any activity but no. One representative is going to make this year's first bill proposal. So, why don't I look at that?

LA 1/2023 vp is made by Finns Party representative of Ari Koponen. The proposal wants to add book-providing services to the list of culture services allowed in employees' culture incentive vouchers. What I understand about the voucher's point is allow employees to have a tax-reducible way to enjoy a bit of culture.

I actually do not have too much of an opinion on the proposal. It seems to mostly target e-book services. One cannot just walk into the bookstore and buy a book. Maybe, it would have to be a subscription. I'm not sure. Seems tax law regarding the topic accepts tickets to museums. Ergo, maybe gift cards are allowed. The added sentence does only say service thought. Hence, I'm a bit unclear on that.

Reasoning has a little bit of Finns Party spin in the sense that there is unnecessary immigrant mentioning. Not going to get many votes outside of his party with that. The main reason is to help people to read more and get better reading skills. This will not help with the issue. It is too late to help people. Most employees do not suddenly start reading more just because it is cheaper.

I think it could be fine. I wouldn't mind using this to buy manga. This points to the real hurdle this proposal has to climb. Originally law clearly tries to aim it at Finnish services, museums and events. Would only Finnish books be allowed? Would translation work be allowed? With this language, they would be. Not sure how well that is going down. Maybe it will. Hell, it is True Finn who is proposing this.