society too focused on “together”

National politicians pay little attention to the financial situation of people living alone or single. This is what the youth departments of political parties and singles say to NOSop3. Now that life is so much more expensive, this hits singles and singles hard. One in three indicates in I&O research hard to get by.

There are eight times more single-person households in the Netherlands than there were 60 years ago. But the company is still too far behind this development, according to Michiel Suijker of the JOVD, the youth branch of the VVD, among others: “Our society is still oriented to the fact that the family is the cornerstone of society. The government assumes. than you get married and have children “.

This has to change, not only the JOVD thinks. “The way singles are disadvantaged is discrimination,” says D66 affiliate Kay van der Hoop of the Young Democrats. And the youth section of the PSC also calls it “financial discrimination”.

Because paying for rent and energy and paying for groceries can be so much more difficult if you can’t share the costs with a partner. But youth departments mainly focus on the way our tax system is structured.

That goes back to a time when marriage was more the norm. Saving together is more advantageous than alone and if you have a ‘tax partner’, there are also advantages when filing your tax return. Those who do not have children who do not live together, do not have a cohabitation contract or are not married, lose these benefits.

In the video below, NOSop3 dives into countless examples of when being single or single turns out to be more expensive. From the supermarket to Netflix and from a salary demand in the rental market to the ‘unmarried’ tax return:

More than three million people now live alone in the Netherlands. A large group of them are older women whose partners have died, but many people in their twenties also rent or buy on their own. And the share of single-person households in the Netherlands is only increasing. Half of all households are expected to be one person by 2050.

NOSop3 has spoken in recent weeks with dozens of people who live alone or are single. They mostly cite rental and energy bills as significant cost items, but even the smallest bills can add up to hundreds of euros per year. Think streaming services that want to make sharing a subscription impossible if you don’t live in one address, clunky oversized packaging in supermarkets, or expensive single meals.

Also often mentioned: the way the waste tax is regulated. In many municipalities it is relatively higher if you live alone. In Amsterdam, for example, you pay 330 euros for your waste if you live alone and “only” 440 euros from families of two or more people. In Maastricht they all pay the same rate: 329 euros. Supplemented with a small amount per garbage bag.

“You shouldn’t be punished if you don’t have a partner, or if you don’t live with your partner,” says Xenia Minnaert of Pink !, the youth department of PvdD. “So we would like the standard to be expanded, so that it is no longer beneficial on many fronts if you have a partner. The system needs to be adapted.”

Although the subject has been raised earlier in The Hague politics, it has remained quiet for some time. Of the seventeen major political parties that took part in the last election, seven of them had something about singles on their agenda: mainly about the shortage of the housing market.

Earlier this year, D66 MP Lisa van Ginneken re-launched the discussion on inheritance law. Because at the moment it is still established that if you die and want to leave money to someone who is not your partner, that person pays 30 percent tax on it. A 0 percent tax partner.

Dishonest, in the opinion of D66, who would like to see laws and regulations more neutral with respect to form. “Our society is still largely in tune with the classic family model of one man, one woman and two children. Even though this is really changing,” says a spokesperson.

However, in the short term, nothing will change when it comes to donations and inheritance taxes. The minister informed NOSop3 that the government has no plans to start with this, as it would mean a fundamental change in the tax system. This would make it more complex and have budgetary consequences, according to the minister.