Page 5 - IDEA Studie 14 2017 Rodinna politika ve volebnich programech

I D E A P R O V O L B Y 2 0 1 7 Rodinná politika ve volebních programech: přehled a rozbor
Study 14 / 2017
IDEA FOR THE 2017 ELECTIONS Family policy in the election manifestos: an overview and breakdown2
OCTOBER 2017
Klára Kalíšková
Summary of key findings
• This study provides an overview of proposals related to family policy, as they are presented in the electoral manifestos of the political subjects running for election to the Chamber of Deputies in the elections to be held on 20th and 21st October 2017. The study comments on these proposals and provides an analysis of their possible consequences.
• Although existing support for families with children in the Czech Republic is heavily focused on tax relief, all the parties except the Pirate Party and Svobodní want to further increase tax relief for families in some form. Some parties promise to bring in tax breaks that would reduce the effective taxation of women and thus help them to return to the labour market (Realisté, SZ, TOP 09), while others plan tax changes that would reduce the tax burden only on the primary earner, i.e. for the most part men (ČSSD, KDU-ČSL, KSČM, SPO).
• Mostofthemanifestosmentionchangestothebenefitssystem.However,onlyČSSD,SPOand SZ propose raising benefits in a way that focuses on socially disadvantaged families and would increase wealth redistribution from richer to poorer families, which is currently rather low in this country. The other parties emphasise the problem of social benefit misuse and make proposals that tend rather in the opposite direction (ODS, Svobodní, TOP 09). The Pirates put forward a quite different approach in their manifesto, which aims to simplify the whole system.
2 The study was developed with the support of the Strategy AV21 – a program for excellent research of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The author wish to thank Robertu Jahodovi for his comments and insights on the draft version of the text Paulina Očkajova for the careful preparation of the background documents from the political parties manifestors and other colleagues and external experts who provided their comments and insights on the draft version of the text. Any inaccuracies and errors, including the opinions expressed in the study, are the authors responsibility.
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