The SPD is letting the laborers in Germany down with the citizens’ income. Work is no longer worthwhile if those on citizen income are reimbursed for the costs of accommodation plus ancillary costs, which low-income taxpayers can no longer afford today.
The SPD never misses an opportunity to pose as the patron saint of those who work hard and have little in their pockets. But is that true? I say the opposite is the case. With the introduction of unconditional “citizen money”, the party is letting the workers down.
It is precisely the working people who keep Germany going and who now have to worry seriously whether they will still be able to heat their homes in the coming months and whether they will still be able to pay their rent at all.
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Unfortunately, with the introduction of the “citizen’s allowance”, Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil in Berlin once again only cares about those who do not work and make use of state support.
Bernd Althusmann is the CDU top candidate for the state elections in Lower Saxony in 2022. He is a member of the Lower Saxony state parliament and was Lower Saxony’s Minister of Education from 2010 to 2013. He has been Minister for Economic Affairs, Labour, Transport and Digitization in the Weil II cabinet since 2017. Althusmann is also Deputy Prime Minister.
The term “citizen’s allowance” alone suggests that every citizen is entitled to this service without any consideration. It is obviously not meant that way.
In my understanding, those who work, who also finance the transfer payments for the needy with their taxes and duties, should have more money for their living expenses than those who do not work. The wage gap requirement is what expresses respect for work performance. With “citizen money” you achieve exactly the opposite. Why?
The federal government’s plan: In the future, the standard rates for “citizen’s income” are to be significantly increased, the income limits extended, the crediting of assets should hardly take place and cuts in the event of misconduct can only be implemented in homeopathic doses and only after months.
The result: the willingness to perform of the working population is eroding. Because work is no longer worthwhile at the latest when the recipients of “citizen’s allowance” are reimbursed for the costs of accommodation plus ancillary costs, which the low-income taxpayer can no longer afford today.
Against this background, how should one explain to a hairdresser who earns almost 2,000 euros gross per month why she should work every day!? How do you explain to a journeyman baker that he should get up early every day for his low monthly salary?
How do you explain to a cashier that it’s better for her to be at the checkout every day – even on Saturdays – when she can also “earn” the money for a living more easily? Namely with “citizen’s allowance” and mini-job – rent and additional costs come from the state. Surf tip: You can find all the news about the corona pandemic in the FOCUS Online news ticker
Then in the end the diligent will be the stupid and Germany at the end. This is not about those who, for whatever reason, cannot work. They need and still get help.
But in Germany there are almost 900,000 vacancies on an annual average. If you assume that only about every second person is reported, it’s more like almost two million. The call for workers is loud across all sectors. It is no longer just highly specialized IT specialists that are in demand.
I experience: In trade, in gastronomy, in tourism, in crafts – almost everywhere there is also a search and need for simple and less qualified workers. The chance is now there to finally shake off unemployment in Germany – a major scourge of the last few decades.
During this time, it was often the poorly qualified workers who could not keep up with the drastically increased demands on the labor market. You now have the chance to gain a foothold in professional life again. We must use this opportunity in the interest of those affected, but also of society as a whole!
It is a mistake to reduce incentives to work through an unconditional “citizen’s allowance” instead of increasing it. You can’t let the honest one be the stupid one, the one who goes to work every day.
The order of the day for a federal government would be to encourage the unemployed to take up work, to support them and ultimately also to demand them – just as other countries such as Denmark have been doing for years.
Good material security in the event of unemployment and the necessary support – and after a reasonable time also the requirement to accept a reasonable job are not a contradiction in terms. It’s two sides of the same coin.
But here, too, the incentives provided by the “citizen’s allowance” are set incorrectly: The deductions for the additional income limits are chosen in such a way that taking on a mini-job is at best attractive with the receipt of the “citizen’s allowance”.
If possible, the unemployed should take up full-time employment that is subject to social security contributions in order to ensure their own social security, but also to make a solidarity contribution to society.
Because those who work are not only no longer burdens on the state, they also pay into the social security systems for themselves. For all these reasons, unconditional “citizen money” is a mistake.
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