Companies in the construction industry can see that the fight against the gray economy is beginning to bear fruit. More than half of Rakennusteollisuus RT's member companies in the building industry estimate that the gray economy has decreased over the past five years. Five years earlier, only a fifth of the companies considered that the gray economy had decreased.
The information appears from the assessment of measures to combat the gray economy commissioned by the parliamentary audit committee. As part of this, a survey was carried out at the end of last year for the members of Rakennusteollisuus RT. The point of comparison is the data from the 2009 report.
The same trend was seen in the assessments of the gray economy's disadvantages for competition. In 2009, about 37 percent of the construction industry member companies considered that the distorting effect of the gray economy on competition was significant or very significant. In the 2014 survey, the proportion had dropped to around 20 percent.
"The answers to the survey show that the companies in the construction sector are strongly committed to combating the gray economy and feel that results have also been achieved", Rakennusteollisuus RT's labor market director Tapio Kari says.
Considerable changes have been implemented in the construction sector
According to Tapio Kari, the report commissioned by the audit committee shows how the construction industry has been at the forefront of combating the gray economy in recent years. Significant legal reforms have been enacted for the sector and tools have been developed to enhance the fight.
Among the changes in the legislation, the most important are the strictures of the Customer Liability Act concerning the construction industry, mandatory identity cards, translated value added tax, tax number and, most recently, the obligation to report and lists of persons on construction sites.
"At the moment, the Parliament is dealing with an amendment to the Customer Liability Act, which from the point of view of the construction industry means a setback in the fight against the gray economy, and we have opposed the amendment in this regard," says Tapio Kari.
As examples of the construction industry's own tools for enhancing prevention, Tapio Kari mentions the Luotetava compani service developed by Suomen Tilaajavastuu Oy, the Veronumero.fi service and the Valtti card, which has become a standard in the construction industry. They ease the administrative burden that the passed changes in laws and operating procedures have created for companies in the industry.
"Now it would be important to establish good practices and make sure that they produce the desired benefits, such as an increase in tax revenues and healthy competition. In a couple of years, we will submit a thorough report on the functionality and effectiveness of measures to combat the gray economy in the construction industry. No new legislative measures should be taken for the construction industry now, but the focus must be on ensuring the efficiency of the tax authorities and other authorities, as well as mutual cooperation and exchange of information," sums up Tapio Kari.
Rakennuslehti 20.1. article published by "Different freedoms for foreign companies fuel gray construction"