Inflation, everyone suffers it. But not in the same way. Thus, the Greens, the PS and the Open VLD want to take an interest in the population who earn less than 3,500 euros gross per month, explains Het Nieuwsblad. “There is a group of workers who earn too little to take advantage of the index jump but who earn too much to take advantage of the social benefits. We must help them”, pleads Egbert Lachaert, the present of the Flemish liberals.
According to a KUL study, the “lower middle class” does indeed fall between the two chairs. The 50% of Belgians who earn less than 3,500 euros gross, the median rate, do not benefit from the social rate for energy, for example, but, on the other hand, the automatic indexation of wages has only one ridiculous impact on theirs since they have to pay for energy cost increases.
It is not only the Open VLD which seems open to the idea of helping this class of the population. Monday, via press release, the Deputy Prime Ministers Petra De Sutter and Georges Gilkinet also pleaded for measures: “We plead for a kind of tax credit, which will immediately lower the withholding tax. Someone who works in the hospitality industry and earns around 1,600 euros gross per month will then have up to 150 euros net more per month or 1,800 euros per year. For an employee who earns around 3,000 euros gross, this amounts to an additional 40 euros net or 480 euros per year”.
If a good part of the members of Vivaldi seems on the same wavelength, remains to know where the government not to find this money. Alexander de Croo would like a deal for July 21.
