“It’s an important initiative, a good signal”, the idea of acting on tax deductions for make those who have children pay less taxesan objective that the Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti is apparently working on in view of the Budget. “However, I believe it is ineffective in combating the low birth rate”. It is a measure that it’s not enough according to pediatrician Italo Farnetaniwho intervenes on the topic with Adnkronos Salute and proposes his ‘recipe’ against the empty cradle emergency: focus on jobs, schools, homes and services.
The analysis of the full professor of Pediatrics at the Ludes-United Campus of Malta University starts from the positive elements of the ‘Giorgetti plan’. “Thinking about tax breaks for taxpayers with children is important for two reasons,” he explains. “First of all it’s a financial helpwhich also demonstrates greater attention to the world of childhood, sometimes neglected in the past. It is clear that when families grow – the doctor emphasizes – together with the children, the needs and costs increase. Once it was said that there were more ‘mouths to feed’, while today expenses increase across the board. Just think of the cost of school books, evoked precisely in these days of returning to school. Therefore it is right that the community contributes to the greater needs of families with children, even if I would concentrate resources on low or medium income families, defining precise income limits with appropriate proportionality and progressivity. The second reason why the initiative that Giorgetti has in mind is important is political and sociological, in the sense that rightly the family is valuedwhich as stated in Article 29 of the Constitution is the natural society. Whoever desires it would have a concrete possibility of choosing to have it”, Farnetani reasons.
Having said this, to counteract the demographic winter “further interventions are needed“, the expert claims. “The birth rate – he says – is one of the main indicators of the state of the real economy of a country or an area. This is confirmed by the fact that, looking at the demographic trend, we see that it is not the same throughout the national territory, but is better where there is more work, greater housing opportunities, social services and social-work security. For this reason a good employment trendassociated with an improvement in general income conditions of families”, is the first element that for Farnetani “creates a favorable condition for births. It is no coincidence that in Italy parents have always decided, responsibly, to conceive a child when there were working and socio-economic conditions capable of guaranteeing a secure future for their children and family”. The certainty of a job first of all, therefore, also “with the possibility of a permanent job, so as not to suddenly find oneself in difficulty”.
Fundamental to deciding to start a family is then “the possibility of purchasing a house that provides housing security, so as not to find themselves without a home. Therefore – the pediatrician suggests – we must build houses and facilitate access to mortgages. Furthermore, we must strengthen social services that allow parents to have points of reference both for training and for child custody: Nursery schools, kindergartens, compulsory schools distributed equally on the territory. Services that also provide free gyms, swimming pools, recreational and sports facilities of children”. The doctor believes it is particularly “important to create company nurseries. If it is not possible to do so in all companies, given that in Italy family or small businesses prevail”, the invitation is to “facilitate nearby companies to activate them”.
“In short, I recommend allocating a portion of the economic resources available for births specifically for the construction of homes, nurseries and recreational centers,” Farnetani summarizes. “And Full-time education should be increased at school. The problem of child custody cannot be solved by shortening school holidays – the expert specifies – because schools have an educational-formative role, not babysitting. Then the opportunities for agile work, smart working, for both mothers and fathers, will have to be increased”.
The pediatrician’s final reflection is on ‘new italians’. “In the early 2000s – he recalls – the collapse in the birth rate of Italian children was compensated by the increase in those born to foreign parents. Then they too encountered the same difficulties as Italian parents and were plunged into the demographic winter. Furthermore, foreign parents can count on less help from their family of origin, and let’s remember how much grandparents do to look after their grandchildren. This is also why the services I mentioned need to be strengthened: if they are very important for Italian parents, they are even more crucial for foreign parents who have less family support and often even fewer socio-economic possibilities”. The urgency of combating the declining birth rate, Farnetani concludes, “is one more reason to grant newborns of foreign parents the Ius soli“.
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