Kari S. Tikka

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Kari Sulo Tikka (born 21 August 1944 in Lahti - died 25 May 2006 in Helsinki) was a Finnish legal scholar. He was Professor of Finance Law at the University of Helsinki and one of Finland's leading experts on taxation.

In his free time, Tikka's hobby was art collecting. His collection included works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall. He also actively followed ballet and theatre.

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[edit] Career

Kari S. Tikka had a long career in justice education and development of education, both in the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He had also previously worked as chairman of the Finnish Lawyer Union.

Tikka was a member of several law preparation work groups, and had a central influence in the development of Finnish taxation law. Among his achievements are the system for refunding corporate tax, which was later abandoned, as taxing Finnish and foreign dividends differently became contrary to the European Union basic treaty.

Before his death, Tikka publicly announced his support for the flat tax. He proposed that different taxation of capital income and work income widens the financial gap between corporate shareholders and regular workers.

Kari S. Tikka wrote several scientific articles and books, among which are "Veropolitiikka" ("taxation policy") and "Yritysverotus I-II" ("corporate taxation I-II"), together with O. Nykänen. His PhD thesis "Veron minimoinnista" ("on the minimisation of tax") was at its time one of Finland's best selling PhD theses.

[edit] Death

Tikka was found dead in his apartment on 28 May 2006. He was 61 years old at the time. Police investigations revealed that he had been the victim of a homicide. The night before his death, Tikka had left a gay nightclub called DTM on Iso-Roobertinkatu, Helsinki, with two men of approximately 20 years of age.

The Helsinki police arrested two men suspected of the killing, a 19-old Russian Aleksandr Ionin and a 23-year-old Estonian Mika-Martti Zukov, on May 29. According to the police the homicide had nothing to do with Tikka's profession. The motive was robbery. In court Ionin and Zukov admitted that they had stolen 15 bottles of alcohol, 49 packs of cigarettes, a mobile phone cover, a pocket knife, one pair of binoculars, a video camera, and some cash.

The trial started on September 26, 2006, in Helsinki District Court. Prosecutor Harri Ilander demanded a life imprisonment for Ionin and Zukov for murder and an aggravated mugging. Ionin and Zukov pleaded guilty on charges of manslaughter.

On October 10, 2006 district court sentenced Ionin and Zukov to 11 years in prison for manslaughter and aggravated robbery.

Prosecutor Ilander expressed his disappointment in the sentence, but made no decision on appealing against the verdict to the Court of appeal.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] External links

[edit] Links to statements by Kari S. Tikka

[edit] Links to miscellaneous writings by Kari S. Tikka

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