The middle class are the people who often go the extra mile by being active in community life or providing informal care, who are willing to trust the government but also expect something in return, namely solving problems and keeping promises, and have become increasingly disappointed in this. This group has too often been taken for granted by The Hague without sufficiently appreciating their importance to society and addressing their concerns. We let them balance between a number of working hours and care tasks, between what comes in and goes out monthly, especially in times of heavy inflation that affects you as a resident. The danger of always balancing is the risk of falling, while we must not let these people fall.
Inge therefore made two proposals to give the middle class more control over their own lives. To ensure that working more directly pays off, Inge proposed to better align wage tax credits and tax withholdings for overtime or if you have multiple jobs. She also proposed giving employers more options to pay bonuses. Then an employer can more easily reward good work or give something extra when needed.
Watch Inges contribution to the debate below.
Read Inges full contribution to the debate
My maiden speech was about the ordinary man from the TV program Pisa. It was the eighties, and I was sure it was about my father, the man with a wife and two kids who worked hard every day, drove around in a red Kadett, lived in a terraced house, and, as the icing on the cake, had shoe size 42 just like my dad. Today we are talking about people who often go the extra mile by being active in community life or providing informal care, who are willing to trust the government but also expect something in return, namely solving problems and keeping promises, and have become increasingly disappointed in this. We have too often taken this group for granted without sufficiently appreciating their importance to society and addressing their concerns. We let them balance between a number of working hours and care tasks, between what comes in and goes out monthly, especially in times of heavy inflation that affects you as a resident. The danger of always balancing is the risk of falling, while we must not let these people fall.
Chairman, today we as the Chamber will rightly stand up for the middle class and promise them a lot again, but lets mainly promise things we can deliver. It is good if the government compensates purchasing power in extreme circumstances, and we also have concerns about the high energy bill, but we need to focus more on providing long-term security. Back to more peace, cleanliness, and regularity. For that security, we must take major steps towards a simpler tax and benefits system. But what we can do faster, we should not fail to do, such as making work more rewarding by ensuring that people who work extra see an immediate effect by better aligning tax credits and taxes on overtime or multiple employers and by creating an exception category for bonuses for extra work within the work-related costs scheme. This also includes supportive family policy. We are in favor of the system of direct financing of childcare, but how are we going to achieve this in the short term if all signals are red? Will these promises become another case of Hagues delay policy, or will we now really go for promise is promise?
We are also against the wobbling policy regarding maximum hourly prices, which were first raised and are now frozen, resulting in higher childcare costs for lower and middle incomes. In addition, we need to move towards a better system of leave arrangements. In extension of this: how is the implementation of my motion on an hours bank progressing?
Chairman, financial security is sufficient income, but it is also having insight into your expenses. Many people with problematic debts actually have sufficient income. Lets eliminate perverse temptations, so no buy now, pay later on the high street. Instead, lets stimulate saving in an account with a decent savings interest rate, like the reintroduction of the silver fleet savings account. Lets ensure that people proactively receive benefits and tax refunds if they are entitled to them. In 2021, a billion was left on the shelf. That could have made a difference for many people. We must also ensure more certainty regarding good education and lifelong development. This starts with a good study choice for our young people, but in a changing labor market, a strong facilitating policy on lifelong development is just as important. Are we doing enough in this regard according to the minister?
Chairman, the middle class forms the backbone of the economy. Without a strong middle class, economic growth stagnates. But the reverse is also true: economic growth is important because it ensures employment, sufficient wages, and the financing of basic facilities for now and in the future. This contributes to less inequality. Therein lies our concern. The government is incredibly passive when it comes to investing in our key technologies and our scale-ups, and in focusing on increasing labor productivity. My question to the minister is: why is he standing by and watching?
Finally, in Pisa, they searched for the ordinary man in every episode. Each time they thought they had found him, it turned out not to be the right person. And of course, there isnt one, because everyone is unique. Lets mainly create the conditions together to give this group more structural and long-term security and to support them in the choices they make themselves so that they regain more control over their own lives.