The Belgian Anti-Poverty Network (BAPN) has expressed concern following Parliament's approval of a tax reform on Thursday.
The BAPN notes that, in principle, the reform will tax the integration income paid to people on social assistance and gradually remove tax benefits linked to unemployment allowances.
It stresses that the changes will hit people in precarious circumstances particularly hard.
Many people will struggle even more to make ends meet - BAPN
“For people living in poverty, the consequences of taxing their integration income are very serious,” BAPN co-ordinator Caroline Van der Hoeven noted.
The integration income is already well below the European poverty threshold, she pointed out, warning that many people will find it even harder to make ends meet.
Van der Hoeven also thinks the reform could make access to work more difficult.
The tax changes were intended to widen the gap between those in work and those out of work, she said, but in practice they would only increase pressure on struggling families.
According to the BAPN coordinator, people affected by the reform would face greater stress over basic needs such as feeding their children and paying household bills.
Reforms create deep uncertainty
The BAPN is also concerned about the gradual withdrawal of tax advantages for unemployment benefits. These benefits are below the poverty threshold, and the tax advantages provide only limited relief, rather than the overly generous support they are sometimes portrayed as offering, according to Van der Hoeven.
She stressed that the tax reform comes on top of a series of other measures, including limiting unemployment benefits in time and making the granting of minimum income conditional on compulsory support pathways in cases of dependency.
“All these reforms target the same groups of people, the most vulnerable,” she said.
She added that many affected people do not know what to expect, what the consequences will be for them, or where to find reliable information.
All this, she noted, creates deep uncertainty.
