This would mean that monthly subsidies paid to an adult asylum-seeker living alone would drop from the current 375 euros to around 292 euros.
For asylum-seekers who are served all their daily meals at reception centres, the cut would be sharper -- at nearly 80 percent. Under the new system, a distinction would no longer be made between adults and minors.
At present, benefits paid to adult asylum-seekers are 10 percent lower than those paid to permanent residents, while those paid to minors are 15 percent lower.
Thors made the proposal during the government's Wednesday evening session.
Asylum-seekers are required to pay for their food, clothing and healthcare out of these subsidies. The income is also taxable.
"A Matter of Chance and Luck"
Thors's proposal is no solution to refugee problems, says Thomas Wallgren, chair of the Finnish Refugee Council -- a post which Thors held before becoming a government minister.
"Creating an environment where foreign asylum seekers feel Finnish society is alien or unpleasant only leads to more conflicts, it does not solve them," he says.
He noted that the reasons why people seek asylum in Finland "are far more serious" than just financial. Wallgren says that the notion that lowering benefits will reduce the number of arrivals is mistaken.
Said Karshe Aden, chair of the Somali League in Finland, agrees that asylum-seekers are not motivated by the amount of subsidies on offer, but by a need for protection.
The chair of the Somali League in Finland, Said Karshe Aden, feels the cuts are aimed more at reducing applications from within the EU. He says the cuts won't deter asylum seekers from war zones, because their motivation is not money.
"Europe is a very enclosed region. For those that come from crisis areas and wars outside of Europe, it’s a question of life or death," he says.
"It is a matter of chance and luck which country they go to. It is unlikely that they have advance information as to how much is paid in each country."