The mother’s pension, also known as the “stove bonus”, is particularly important to the Christian Socialists. The planned expansion from 2027 will add billions in additional costs, financed from tax revenue.
dpa | The so-called Mother’s pension Pension insurance currently costs around 13.5 billion euros per year. As the German Pension Insurance announced when asked, the costs for the mother’s pension I, which was introduced in 2014, were around nine billion euros in 2024, while the costs for the mother’s pension II, which has been effective since January 2019, cost around half as much in the same period. First, the Germany editorial network made a corresponding calculation. With the expansion of the mother’s pension in 2027, additional billions of costs will be added, which will then, however, be financed from a different pot.
Recognition of longer child-rearing periods
The mother’s pension refers to the taking into account of child-rearing periods when calculating the pension. Until June 30, 2014, a child-rearing period of one year could be taken into account for children born before 1992. From July 1, 2014, an additional year of parenting time could be credited for all mothers and fathers whose children were born before this date (mother’s pension I). Since the beginning of 2019, a maximum of two and a half years have been taken into account (mother’s pension II).
In 2015, according to the pension insurance, the costs of mother’s pension I were around seven billion euros. In 2019, when the mother’s pension II was introduced, there were around 8.1 billion euros for the mother’s pension I and around half for the mother’s pension II.
New reform costs around five billion additional per year
From 2027, parenting by mothers or fathers in the first three years of children’s lives should be recognized without distinction – for the first year only retroactively in the following year. This reform, which was particularly important to the CSU, will cost around five billion euros annually. Unlike the previous regulations, they are to be financed from tax revenue. This means that the pension insurance receives a federal subsidy to offset the resulting additional expenses.
Greens criticize “election gifts”
Criticism of this comes from the Greens, among others. They insist that the loan-financed special fund created with their consent be used exclusively for infrastructure and climate protection. They accuse the federal government of not using the credit flexibility for additional infrastructure projects, but rather in a roundabout way for “electoral gifts” such as the mother’s pension. (dpa)
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