By: Celjski glasnik
When the Intervention Measures Act is discussed, its opponents bend over backwards to come up with arguments claiming that the government wants to make the poor even poorer and the rich even richer.
Although many experts have explained that the proposed changes would bring benefits to everyone, especially the most vulnerable, the political struggle has reached a point where, for the political left, even the prices of basic foodstuffs seem unimportant.
We could observe a debate between Aleksander Reberšek and Nataša Sukič, and it was the latter, despite often presenting herself as a defender of the welfare state, who mocked the government’s measures. She regarded it as completely irrelevant that products such as eggs, milk, or bread could become cheaper as a result of a VAT reduction. At the same time, she bases her populist message on the claim that such measures would deprive citizens of their right to healthcare and education.
The fact that their theory does not hold up is also reflected in recent poverty data and poverty-rate statistics. These same political actors applauded Robert Golob’s tax-increase policies throughout his four years in office, yet failed to provide citizens with better healthcare or education services. At the same time, an additional 46,000 people fell into poverty. And these are the politicians who then claim that a government seeking to leave more money in people’s pockets is somehow working for the wealthy.