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SP presents emergency plan to restore purchasing power

19 June 2022

SP presents emergency plan to restore purchasing power

Foto: SP

More and more people are having trouble paying their bills. Even as costs rise, our salaries, benefits and OAP pension have been falling behind for years. Grocery shopping, gas and electric, filling up the tank, rent, everything is becoming more and more expensive, which has led to an increasing number of people having problems.

This is happening even though the economy is growing, large corporations are making enormous profits and the mega-rich are becoming even richer. This has led to even greater inequality and even more problems for people. That is why we need an emergency plan now, the costs have to go down!

Toward a different economy

Over the longer term we must fundamentally change the capitalist economy, so that the economy not only works for the few, but for everyone. There is no justification for enormous profits being made, while these same profits do not end up in the hands of the very people whose hard work created these profits.

The costs and the tax that people pay must be lowered and the big corporations that make a lot of profit and the mega-rich must pay their fair share.

We need an emergency plan

However, right here, right now, more and more people are struggling to pay their bills, which requires urgent action now. Costs must go down and salaries, benefits and OAP pension must go up.
We have therefore prepared an emergency plan:

1.    Affordable Groceries
Because of the enormous price increases, grocery shopping is becoming a problem for an increasing number of people. Being able to afford food is a basic necessity. It is precisely the supermarkets that made huge profits in the corona crisis and that employ a lot of staff at low wages. Inflation is driven by high corporate profits.

These high profits must therefore not be distributed among the shareholders, but must be used to temper the price increases, e.g. by temporarily lowering the VAT on groceries.

2.    A lower energy bill
The energy bill is rising to unprecedented highs. People who live in poorly insulated houses and who have a poor (flexible) energy contract are suffering the most. The energy bill must be lowered immediately by temporarily reducing the tax on gas (in the first tax bracket for households) to zero. This will benefit everyone.

The privatisation of our energy companies meant we relinquished control over them. In the longer term we want to take back control of our energy supply and insulate as many homes as possible and install solar panels. Starting with the most poorly insulated homes, where the energy bill can be brought down quickly.

3.    Costs of filling the tank must go down

The big oil companies are making billions in profit, but filling up the tank is almost unaffordable. The cabinet has lowered the excise on petrol (17 cents) and diesel (11 cents) a little bit, but this has been so little that filling up the tank has become more expensive again.

Excise must therefore be lowered much more, as other countries have done. People will notice this straight away at the pump. This tax reduction for consumers can be paid for by having the large oil companies pay more tax over the billions in profit they are making.

4.    Freezing the rent

Rents will go up as of 1 July, but must be frozen. Hundreds of thousands of tenants are already struggling to pay the rent and cannot afford a rent increase.

In the past year we fought for lower rents, inside and outside of parliament, and in the end we managed to freeze the rents in the social housing sector, where rents were not increased. We must do this again this year.

5.    Abolish insurance excess

Health care must be available to everyone who needs it. In particular the elderly and people with a chronic illness pay a standard 385 euros in excess. They must pay this amount despite the fact that to receive treatment they must first be referred by their GP - being ill is not a choice. This is an unfair penalty on being ill and we therefore want to abolish the health insurance excess.

 

In addition, the health care premium will be dependent on your income, which will be favourable for people on lower and medium incomes. High earners will pay more, so that the strongest shoulders bear the heaviest load.

In addition, we want a higher minimum wage of 15 euros per hour, to which benefits and the OAP pension will be linked. Pensions must finally be indexed, so that they rise along with the prices.

We will pay for this by a higher tax on corporate profit and by having the mega-rich and large fortunes pay a fair share of tax.

The SP is fighting in the Netherlands House of Representatives to achieve this emergency plan, but this fight alone won't make it happen. We will only be able to achieve this together if we are organised. That is why we are calling on as many citizens as possible to join our movement!

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