Hadia Tajik (PA) wants to increase family allowances and believes they should be distributed unequally between rich and poor. The former deputy group leader of the PA says she has “a lot of working capacity” and she hasn’t let herself be frightened by politics.
– We need a new social policy, Tajik tells VG.
– Poverty has increased. More and more children are growing up in poor families, with all the consequences this can have both for life as children and young people, and for adulthood.
Now the board of Rogaland Arbeiderparti, with Tajik in the lead, is proposing it family allowancesPeople caring for children under 18 can receive child benefits, which will help cover the costs of having children. must be increased.
– We in the Labor Party must have the courage to rethink the policy tools to solve the problems we see. The percentage of children growing up in poor families has increased nearly four-fold in the past decade, he says.
Tajik also wants AP to consider taxing child benefits through income tax.
This means that those who earn the most will tax most child benefits. The goal is that those with the least means will receive the most money from the program and those with the best means will receive the least.
– I think there are many people wondering why families with good finances should receive the same benefits as others, says Tajik and adds:
– At a time when it is very clear to the government that the economic framework is very tight, and that it will be so for many years to come.
Tajik refers to the Ministry of Finance’s calculations: Child benefits can be increased from NOK 12,648 a year to NOK 20,157 without costing the state a penny more, if taxed. Ideally, the Tajik Labor Party and Rogaland would increase child benefits more.
– But I think it makes sense, given the economic situation, that we manage to come up with proposals that can also be implemented without changing the financial framework for child benefits, so that we clearly prioritize those who have less in a way that affects everyday life and their wallets, he says.
Don’t let that scare you
Tajik resigned as Minister for Employment and Inclusion on 2 March 2022, after VG disclosures about how he got tax-free commuter accommodation with a lease he never used. Some days later she withdrew also as vice president of the PA.
Watch the video of the press conference where Tajik resigned here:
Tajik’s former colleague as deputy leader Trond Giske builds reach out to a great local team in Trondheim, and politically challenge the government.
But while Giske insists he has no plans for a national political comeback, Tajik isn’t averse to bigger tasks.
– What are your future plans?
– I am part of the Storting, in the energy and environment committee and I am the first candidate of Rogaland Ap, and I am happy to be, Tajik tells VG.
– Are you ready for more responsibilities in Ap in the future?
– I have a lot of working capacity, he says and continues:
– If it’s true that what you’re really asking me is if I’m afraid to get involved in politics, then I’m not. On the contrary, I am very motivated to help find political solutions for the PA’s future.
Prime Minister and Labor Party leader Jonas Gahr Støre said earlier there are no barriers for the return of the Tajik. “I think he’s someone we will see more in Norwegian politics,” Støre said when he was interviewed at the Storting press room seminar last week.
– I have to reconsider
Family allowances stood still from 1996 to 2019, when the Christian People’s Party entered the Solberg government, and the rates have been raised every year since then.
Nor did Jens Stoltenberg’s red-green government, of which Tajik was a part, increase child benefits when he ruled the country from 2005 to 2013.
– It’s the facts on the ground that have changed, and therefore politics must change too, Tajik tells VG.
– There are many people who are in an extremely challenging situation, and therefore we have to think again.
– Will anyone be left with less child benefits than they receive today?
– Yes, it is true that some of those on the highest incomes will be left with slightly lower child benefits than today. I think we can defend it, as long as we do better for the many families with children who need a better financial situation than today, she says.
Last week He gave several PA leaders a clear message to the government: When your party runs the country, people shouldn’t freeze for fear of high electric bills or having to go to the Food Center to feed their families.
– I completely agree with this and then we need to engage in the development of new policies, says Tajik.
A central question in recent weeks, following the 16.9% measurement of the AP disaster, has been whether AP should change its policy or if communication is the problem.
– I hope that in the run-up to the national meeting we will see many more proposals on how we can develop a new social policy that affects those who need it most better than we are getting today, says Tajik.
We need better answers
Cheaper daycare, free after-school hours, or work-life cleaning aren’t enough she started it herself as Minister of State.
– All these are excellent proposals that help even in a difficult economic moment, but we must look ahead and lead the development of policies for a new era, says Tajik and continues:
– A time when the differences have increased and there have been many more people who are having a difficult time financially. Then we need better policy answers.
Social assistance will change
Tajik also believes it is time to look at the structure and requirements of social assistance, to ensure that the support is the emergency financial aid it should be.
– In part, it’s too difficult for many people to get it, because there are so many requirements. In part, we see that some people end up going on welfare for a long time and that ends up being a long-term financial benefit.
Nav may require you to sell, for example, a car, cabin or boat that you don’t need to support yourself if you want social assistance. But families may need, for example, the car in everyday life, Tajik points out.
– The goal of social assistance must be to overcome a problem and it must be a short-term benefit. But it becomes increasingly difficult to overcome that problem if the requirements are set in such a way that they have to get rid of any valuables they have, she says.
According to a report by the Consumer Research Institute SIFO.
– Illustrates the need for public financial emergency relief that works better and hits better than today, says Tajik and continues:
– It is not certain that all of these 14 per cent of households will have social assistance, but it is conceivable that some of them would rather have it than take out consumer loans with high interest rates, as they are doing now. It just brings them further down a sticky situation.
