Paus has already received criticism from many quarters for basic child welfare. Now the Taxpayers' Association is criticizing an aspect that has so far been ignored.
Berlin - After criticism from the FDP, CDU and some experts of the draft law for basic child welfare, the Taxpayers' Association is now also getting involved and shooting against the draft by Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens). Like the FDP, the Taxpayers' Association criticizes the bureaucratic aspects of the draft. As
Tagesspiegel
reports, the brochure that the association published on Thursday under the title “Savings book for the 2024 federal budget” also reveals a point of criticism that has so far received little attention.
The money that families should receive when the new law comes into force would no longer be paid out by the “family fund” but by the newly established “family service”. A seemingly small change that costs 750,000 euros, which is no small amount. The ministry informed the Taxpayers' Association of this upon request.
According to the brochure, the costs are renaming costs. “Authority signs, development of a corporate design, adaptation of the new name in IT and print products” are needed. The association accuses the Ministry of Family Affairs of lacking “prioritization and sensitivity”. It's about "good-sounding semantics" and with a view to the limited federal budget, the association writes: "750,000 euros for two new syllables doesn't seem to be a problem for the Ministry of Family Affairs." The Taxpayers' Association calls basic child support a "bureaucratic monster."
FDP criticizes draft law: Paus rows back
According to Tagesspiegel
, the new authority will
take on significantly more far-reaching tasks than the family fund has done so far and will require more advice. To counteract this, Paus included 5,000 new jobs in her draft. Although the traffic light parties had approved the draft in its entirety several times, the FDP recently criticized the demand for 5,000 jobs.
Paus also recently backtracked and said in the podcast of the media company
Table.Briefings
that it was about “the forecast figures from the Federal Employment Agency”. She therefore considers it realistic to “get by with fewer than 5,000 jobs”.
New study: Basic child support is not enough to combat child poverty
The union-affiliated Hans Böckler Foundation published a new assessment of the amount of benefits on Thursday. The foundation published a new study in which a realistic subsistence level was calculated. As the
Reuters
news agency reports, the study found that the basic child welfare planned from 2025 is not enough to effectively combat child poverty. Depending on the age of the child, according to the study, basic security must be “between 30 and 191 euros higher than currently planned by the federal government”.
Traffic light debate: 5,000 new jobs in Paus' draft law on basic child welfare
So far, the FDP and SPD have called for some changes from Paus to their draft law, but none of them concerned an increase in benefits. Social associations and trade unions had previously criticized the amount of payments. The author of the study, Irene Becker, told
Reuters
about the draft law
: “The success of basic child security stands and falls with the assessment of the minimum subsistence level to be secured.”
The draft law has been discussed in the Bundestag for months. With the basic child security, the federal government wants to bundle previous benefits such as child benefit, benefits from the citizen's benefit for children or the child allowance.
(pav)