ÖDP on work and social affairs

The ÖDP wants to shift social insurance to tax funding and include all citizens. Contributions levied on work would fall, and everyone would benefit equally from the system.

The ÖDP wants to pay for social insurance in a new way. The money should come from taxes. Payments taken from wages should go down. Everyone pays in and everyone gets benefits.

The platform aims to ease the burden on labor by cutting social insurance contributions. In return, everyone would help pay for the system and be covered to the same extent. Private supplementary insurance would remain available for those who want it. The condition is that basic coverage is guaranteed at an adequate level.

The ÖDP wants to introduce a tax-free basic payment for everyone that includes compensation for carbon pricing. Social benefits would be an individual entitlement, and in crises aid would be paid as flat sums without lengthy checks.

The ÖDP wants to give everyone a fixed amount of money from the state. It includes a payback for the carbon price. Each person should get social benefits in their own right. It should not matter who they live with. In a crisis, help should come fast.

The payment would be funded by taxes and phased in, rising slowly but steadily. The Bedarfsgemeinschaft system (benefits calculated per household), which the ÖDP calls unfair and outdated, would be replaced by individual entitlements. In emergencies such as a pandemic, flat-rate aid paid out directly would replace checks on which agency and which benefit comes first. Extra aid is planned for people with reduced earning capacity, people with disabilities, the solo self-employed, small businesses, freelancers and founders. Measured by number of jobs, large companies should not be treated better than small and medium-sized firms. Everyone should also have a right to take part in society, for example through meaningful work.