Column | The state distributes a gift of tens of thousands of euros to the children of high-income earners – Is the current model of child benefit fair?

Millions human society accommodates all kinds of destiny and path. A special feature of Finnish society is that it tries to include everyone by distributing to those who don’t necessarily need much.

It has been a perfectly working plan from the point of view of the state administration’s income, which can be seen, among other things, in the social peace that surrounds us and in surveys measuring the willingness of Finns to pay taxes.

However, when you add up the expenses and income of the Finnish government over the past decades, you can question how long such a model can be afforded.

At least the finance minister Annika Saarikon I think there is room for it, because now all Finnish families with children are being given an extra child benefit. Inflation is galloping at its highest level in about 40 years, and many Finns need help as they catch up with their purchasing power.

Many, not all.

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If inflation gallops at this rate in the near future, then 40,000 euros will do little else in 18 years, other than pay one month’s electricity bill.

I don’t I don’t think you know any people who have studied economics, medicine or law who work, but don’t invest the monthly child benefit from Kela. Their income is in balance with their consumption, and the centen that appears in the account once a month does not mean anything for economic activity.

It is also usually a direct continuation of the activities of the study days, where the state-guaranteed student loans were invested and through this, money was obtained for the bar nights.

If getting free money is possible, then a person usually uses the opportunity. Of course, it’s largely about starting points, home education and your own interest, where you even notice opportunities.

Just as the Hitas system was an excellent opportunity for high-income Helsinki residents to earn money without doing anything, so for all high-income Finns, child allowance is a similarly excellent opportunity.

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Of course, you can also think of the situation as a victory for the Finnish social model.

About The monthly support of 95 euros, invested in the index, turns into an 18-year gift of around 40,000 euros, if a moderate seven percent is used as the return expectation. In that case, the savings would be around 20,000 euros, while the second Mokoma would be a pure profit.

Since 1957, Wall Street’s S&P 500 has averaged an annual return of about 10.5 percent, so it’s entirely possible that the pot could be even bigger.

If inflation gallops at this rate in the near future, then 40,000 euros will do little else in 18 years, other than pay one month’s electricity bill.

But it is still about 40,000 units more than the children whose parents used their child allowance for food, clothes and other things for which the allowances are intended.

Someone could whisper the politicians’ safe word in between inequality.

Social from this point of view, a gift of tens of thousands of euros given by the state to the children of the well-off can give rise to all kinds of thoughts. Fair? Not necessarily. Possible? Absolutely. Whose fault? Yaa-a, maybe the state?

Is the current way of distributing child benefit the most reasonable? I do not know. Personally, I would give the money to those who need it, but there is also value in the fact that everyone receives benefits from society.

When a person with a good income receives monthly child benefit, it becomes concrete for him why taxes are paid. Maybe it has an impact on everyone’s willingness to pay taxes, hard to say. In addition, graining is easy in speech, but very difficult in practice.

Of course, you can also think of the situation as a victory for the Finnish social model.

That, even on a Nordic scale, in a country that is very poor in capital, many adults even get some sort of nest egg, the foundation of which was created specifically with child benefits. Sympathetic!