Labor and Social Democrats must turn around. This is a headless and heartless proposal that will only lead to more poverty, disease and exclusion.
The debate post expresses the writer’s opinions.
These days, the Labor Party, the Center Party and the Socialist Left Party are negotiating my and many people’s finances.
The Labor Party and the Socialist People’s Party have in fact abandoned the Conservative government’s proposal to remove the exemption amount for people on disability benefits. That is, the opportunity to earn 0.4 G (42,500 kroner) before the social security is reduced is in danger of being abolished.
Also read: The attack on the disabled
Almost the poverty line
The Employment Committee has pointed out that the tax-free amount is a barrier that makes people not want to work anymore, despite the fact that the statistics the committee itself has used show the opposite: of 370,000 disabled are 84 percent fully disabled, while 16 percent are graduated disabled.
The proportion with earned income, in addition to social security, is 91 per cent for those with graduates, while 22 per cent of those with full disability have earned income, and only three per cent with full disability earn more than 0.4 G. One in four earns less than NOK 10,000 a year.
The argument that the tax-free amount is a barrier to working more does not hold water. The reason why people on disability benefits do not work is because they are involuntarily ill, and because the labor market does not facilitate people being able to use their residual work ability in part-time positions.
Removing the tax-free amount will mean that people with low incomes will either receive lower incomes than they already have, or lose the opportunity to have better finances. Let me remind you that The minimum rate of disability benefit is approximately NOK 242,000 per year, a couple of thousand kroner above the poverty line in Norway which is 237,600 kroner.
For disability reform in 2015 was the free amount of 1 G, and it has been gradually reduced. Following the disability reform, the number of people who combine social security and work has decreased significantly.
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It is a mockery of the disabled
The fact that it pays to work a lot is just great, but it is quite possible to change the reduction in disability benefits for those who earn more than 0.4 G, so it pays to work a lot without removing the tax-free amount.
There is no doubt that keeping the deductible and changing the reduction above 0.4 G are the measures that will stimulate most people to work.
Many do not go from being zero to 50-70 percent at work right away.
People start small, some will always be there, and the removal of the tax-free amount will be an extremely large obstacle to getting started with work at all. The Employment Committee has not had a single person on disability benefits (user participant) who has been able to say anything about how the measures will affect the disabled and the young disabled. Nor has an impact assessment been carried out.
The government should work to create a labor market where it will be easier for people to use their residual work capacity. And this very proposal will lead to the complete opposite of the government parties’ policy of getting more people into work.
This will lead to more isolation, poorer quality of life and greater health problems. And those 254 million government saves on austerity, will soon double in increased health care spending.
This is small money considering the billions that are moved around in the state budget.
It is unworthy, and a mockery of the disabled – that the government will not find 254 million extra.
For many disabled people, there is always a corona lockdown
I myself will be hit hard if the deductible is lost.
I am a disability pensioner and a part-time student, and want to work part-time. The abolition of the tax-free amount makes it very difficult to increase my income, and can be a major obstacle to getting started.
Work will lead to much more effort and paperwork on the part of both me and Nav, and it may not improve the economy. In the worst case, if I’m really unlucky, I could end up going down in total income from starting work. Then I have to stay completely away from work. And I want to work. I’m sorry and angry.
Most of the time I sleep well, but now I have woken up at night in agitation. Actually, I really care about the economy.
I care about my own quality of life, and I care about people’s quality of life. To have the opportunity to participate in meaningful activities, the opportunity to meet their own needs, the opportunity to live life.
I know of people who pay anywhere from 11,000 to 14,000 in rent from their disability benefit for their municipal apartment in Oslo. They have to get food from the slum station. Maybe they try to speculate on the income with a few small jobs here and there. The last opportunity they can lose now.
Now is clearly the time for Norway’s poorest to become even poorer, and that with Jonas Gahr Støre as Prime Minister.
Maybe the Storting should have decided to liquidate and sell all its commuter flats, can the income also be given as a Christmas present to the country’s insured?
A parliamentary representative with a Storting salary, double up with holiday pay and a couple of rented properties here and there, manages enough to rent an apartment in Oslo at his own expense, I think.
Also read: Hi! Your salary will be reduced by 30-40 percent from New Year. Is not that right, then?
And yes, why not simply introduce holiday pay on disability benefits? Why should the disabled not be entitled to holiday pay? Being disabled is one of the hardest jobs there is. Good, nutritious vacations will probably increase your ability to work. For many disabled people, there is always a corona lockdown. And why not go back to a 1G deductible?
The line of work in Norwegian politics has gone too far. It seems that there is a mindset among most politicians that poverty motivates them to work. That is completely wrong.
People get more tired of being poor.
Most political parties should make a proper settlement with their own thoughts and attitudes.
Who do politicians make decisions for, really?
Several times I have heard politicians say that you must want to exercise power, and not be afraid to go into positions of power when you become a politician. Politicians should be much more concerned with the concept of powerlessness, I have never heard a single politician mention that.
When some have much more power than others and can make decisions that drastically change people’s lives for the worse – in the worst case ruin other people – and you experience little or no influence over changes in your own life, it leads to feelings of powerlessness, mistrust, desperation and anger.
The contempt for politicians is great, and a growing societal problem. And it will also go beyond democracy and electoral support. It should be taken seriously and talked about more, and not least something done.
Politicians are not elected to make decisions for themselves that only they think are good, and they are not elected to sit in their own bubble and rule without contact with reality. Elected representatives make decisions for the population, and this time the very sickest and poorest.
And when people like the decisions are about screaming in anger and despair, it should not be possible to just keep running through with their own plans without stopping.
It is an inhuman act.
Read more from the Norwegian debate here
We see powerlessness, desperation and anger and in other situations people who have difficulty, or feel violated.
Sometimes you end up acting out, or in the worst case, using violence against the aid apparatus. It is often basically a matter of not feeling seen and heard. About not having influence over one’s own life and one’s own rights.
And it leads to feelings of despair, desperation, powerlessness and anger.
The same mechanisms can actually be translated to all areas where there are very large differences in the balance of power.
Labor and Social Democrats must turn around. This is a headless and heartless proposal that will only lead to more poverty, disease and exclusion.
“Thou shalt not suffer so much iniquity as will not hurt thee.”
Read more articles about the government’s cut proposal for the disabled:
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