Kaja Kallas’ government, which took office last April, quickly earned the title of “the most family-friendly government”. Even in the difficult 90s for everyone, child benefits were not reduced, but in our time, the alliance of the reform parties, social democrats and Estonia 200 has done without blinking an eye. We can already see that the new government, which consists of the same parties, intends to continue on the same course. Guess what awaits us – child tax?
When the former government of Kaja Kallas “suddenly” found a big hole in the state budget after the 2023 parliamentary elections, they started looking for new ways to take money from the people of Estonia. Already last year, it was decided to increase the rates of VAT and income tax and various excise taxes. In addition, a car tax was created. But even that was not enough, and then they began to look in the direction of families with children and pensioners.
Without a second thought, families with three children were cut 200 euros a month, reducing the support that the government – including the Reform Party – itself increased last year. Then came a blow for pensioners: despite the coalition agreement, which clearly stated that the average pension would not be taxed with income tax, the coalition took a completely different decision.
Who gets child benefits?
The current government, led by Kristen Michal, drafted a new coalition agreement, specifying that the previous agreement would remain in force. It is not wise to take this document seriously, because, as mentioned above, the government parties are extremely warm towards the promises in the coalition agreement. The agreement may be new, but the course taken by the Kallas government has been the same – it has already been announced that excise taxes, income tax and VAT will be raised again. The coalition will not provide the car tax either. So the tax fair, as Michal himself called it, continues.
