Mess? Great idea?
What happens if parental allowance is canceled for high earners
© kasto / Adobe Stock
The parental allowance for high earners should be deleted: mess? Great idea? In any case, it is sensational that this is now being debated so passionately!
The anger is huge. It has been known since Monday that Family Minister Lisa Paus is planning to cut parental allowance for high-income earners in line with Finance Minister Christian Lindner’s savings targets. Since then, social networks and parent chat groups have exploded: there is talk of a “dramatic step backwards” for equal opportunities for men and women and of a “blow against the partnership-based compatibility of work and family”. Entrepreneur Verena Pausder started one the same day Petition against the project – in just 24 hours she collected 250,000 signatures.
Others roll their eyes in exasperation at the outrage: Doesn’t the cut just affect those who could definitely afford a few euros less? If you earn 150,000 euros together as a couple, you are probably able to put aside so much that you can bridge a year of parental leave with just one income. And isn’t it better to save here instead of – as also planned – in basic child security or in raising the minimum wage?
It is clear who will take parental leave if the worst comes to the worst: the mother
Good point. Nevertheless, those who argue in this way ignore two points: First, in many cities, even high-earning couples cannot automatically build up gigantic reserves in view of gigantic rents and real estate prices. And secondly, even more importantly, it is clear who will take parental leave if the worst comes to the worst: the mother. Because they usually earn less. The father will continue to work full time. And everything that the parental allowance is supposed to trigger – the greater financial independence of mothers, the breaking up of traditional role models – would be, at least for this income group, for the time being for the bin.
The fact that the outcry is so great now, that the “tagesschau” reports, that commentators write their fingers sore on all channels and that anger and puke emojis flood the stories on Instagram, is therefore incredibly good and important. Because politicians – no matter which party – can only realize that equality and families should not be the first to be cut, no matter how dramatic the budget situation is. And because this might finally draw attention to the actual billions in pots that no government has dared to touch so far: For example, the 400 billion euros that are inherited every year and are only taxed in homeopathic doses. Or the 22 billion euros that spouse splitting costs each year.
Ms. Paus, Mr. Lindner, would you like to take over, please?