Masonic changes will occur in the granting of benefits from 2024. The plan to reform the allowances and how they are granted will be announced before the end of the year, possibly by the prime minister himself.
Many poil and new benefits will acquire… a demographic dimensionfor others, their beneficiaries will increase as the income limits to which they are linked will be expanded, while thousands of freelancers and the self-employed will lose benefits as they will be forced to report higher annual incomes as a result of the new tax bill.
A large number of professionals, with the new tax intervention, will exceed the income limits for allowances and as a result will lose them. It is noted that dozens of benefits are granted based on the income of the beneficiaries (housing allowance, heating allowance, child allowance, PPC social tariff, etc.).
“The benefit for the Budget will be re-directed to benefits, either by expanding their income criteria, or by creating new benefits according to the social policy objectives set by the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family” pointed out the Deputy Minister of National Economy and Finance Haris Theocharis.
The Ministries of Family and Labor play a key role in the process of reforming the benefits.
From 2024, an increase in the amount (by 8%) and its beneficiaries is foreseen Minimum Guaranteed Income. So from the 200 euros that starts today it will rise to 216, while from the 400 euros it reaches (depending on the composition of the household) it will reach 432 euros.
Demographic component
Faced with the demographic impasse in which our country finds itself, the government will be forced to take immediate measures both to support couples who want to become parentsas well as families who want to have more members.
Greece now has one of the most aging populations in Europe, with the result that interventions are required in many sectors but mainly in the financial one. Recently, in fact, the mountainous municipality of our country that wants to increase its… census, offers 3,000 euros for each new child born within its territoryby permanent residents or by those who wish to settle there.
In this context, the Minister of Labor, Adonis Georgiadesrecently spoke about the granting of financial incentives to couples who are thinking of starting a family, while the Minister of Social Cohesion and Family Sophia Zaharaki, in her statements to the insider she pointed out that she is studying what else can be given in order to increase the monthly income of a new couple.
“In the end, it is the state that will give money. It is very much in the interest of the state to have more children and the state stands to gain. After all, it is not an expense for the state, it is both a short-term and a long-term investment” said the Minister of Labor, during the recent conference on Greece’s demographic problem.
Prepaid card
It is expected to be submitted to the Parliament in early 2024 legislative regulation by the Ministry of Social Cohesionwhich will provide that at least 50% of the benefits (child, birth, unemployment) from OPECA and DYPA, should be consumed through the use of a prepaid card, while the remaining amount will be given in cash.
OPECA benefits, which concern approximately 702,000 households, will acquire a new targeting, as with the prepaid card, which will be nominal, they will not be able to be used by anyone other than the owner. In this way, relatives of beneficiaries who collect them irregularly will be excluded, while many cases of “professional” benefit recipients, who declare very low incomes with the aim of simultaneously collecting more benefits, will be revealed.
With the new intervention, which is prerequisite for the release of Recovery Fund fundsthe transparency of transactions for benefit beneficiaries and the fight against tax evasion is sought.
