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The Neos are aiming for a “pension revolution”. This is to work via a “stock pension”, which is to be established alongside the pay-as-you-go system. With regard to the implementation, there is of course not even complete agreement with the Neos. While the federal party wants to use existing instruments, the youth organization JUNOS wants to set up a kind of state fund. Rejection came from the SPÖ.
For social spokesman Gerald Loacker, there is no doubt that there is a need for action. At a press conference on Wednesday morning, he criticized the fact that almost a third of government revenue now flows into the pension system and that pension benefits are still falling. One can therefore no longer bury one’s head in the sand like the other parties: “It can’t go on like this.”
upgrading of the private sector
Loacker advocates upgrading the private sector and company pensions. So even those employees whose company does not offer a company pension fund should be able to pay into such an insurance, as is already possible for politicians. This diversion would be voluntary in a self-selected checkout.
Furthermore, Loacker wants to abolish the securities capital gains tax after a one-year holding period. Because at the moment everyone who is making provisions for the future in this way is being treated like speculators.
Split first pension pillar?
The JUNOS have a slightly different approach, as their chairwoman Sophie Wotschke explained. If she has her way, the first pension pillar should be split. In addition to the pay-as-you-go system, a small part of the money – at least one billion per year – is to flow into an equity-based fund, similar to Norway. All employees should also be able to pay in there privately, if they want to.
Loacker justified why the federal party did not join this proposal with bad experiences, for example with the corona aid financing agency Cofag. The social spokesman fears that a Turkish and a Green would be at the helm in such a state fund and “specialists” would be served.
“Rarely heard a more absurd idea”
The SPÖ opposed this “revolution” on Wednesday afternoon. “I’ve really rarely heard a more absurd idea,” said social spokesman Josef Muchitsch in a broadcast. In a situation in which pensioners are constantly suffering from the loss in value of their company pensions, this demand could not be “more out of place”. Replacing the “secure state model” for one that is entirely subject to the capital market is a “step in the completely wrong direction” and “there is absolutely nothing sustainable about it.”
Pensioners’ Association sees “old hats”
The plans are also rejected by the pensioners’ association, whose president Peter Kostelka writes of “old hats” that Karl-Heinz Grasser had already put on as finance minister. Financed on the free capital market, they are highly risky. The developments in pension funds – losses of up to more than 50 percent – are a sad reality: “So far, no one has been found to replace these losses.”
Source: Nachrichten
