I feel like a lot of conservatives jump on the "fiscal responsibility" and "low spending" bandwagons, while the conservative movement throughout history has centered around the family. Almost a quarter of abortions are because of monetary concerns.
Many married couples both have to work to be able to buy a house, car, and the average age for having a first child now is 26.9 years old. This number was 21.4 in 1970. This includes a lot of concerns such as decreasing fertility and parents having less children. This has resulted in an aging population and people with an average birth rate of 1.77, which is below replacement. So, our population is decreasing without considering immigration, leading to a cultural shift.
Based on a shifting culture and many people having to put work over children for a significant point of their life, I think that below is a great position that conservatives in America should support.
So, Hungary has recently released a seven-point plan to support families. It goes as follows:
- 1. Every woman under the age of forty who gets married for the first time will be eligible for a preferential loan of up to HUF 10 million($32,000). Repayment of the loan will be suspended for three years after the birth of a child, and for another three years after a second. In addition, one third of the principal of the loan will be written off after the birth of a second child. If a third child is born, the remaining debt will be cancelled in its entirety.
- 2. Preferential loans available under the already established family housing benefit scheme will be extended. At present families with two children can receive low interest loans of HUF 10 million($32,000) for the purchase of new homes, while families with three or more children have access to corresponding preferential loans of HUF 15 million($48,000). In the future, families with two or more children will also be able to use such loans for the purchase of existing properties.
- 3. Up until now the Government has provided mortgage repayment relief of one million forints for large families when a third child is born, and a further one million forints($3,200) for each subsequent child. From now on the Government will provide this relief of one million forints($3,200) when a second child is born, a further HUF four million ($13,000) for the birth of a third child, and one million forints ($3,200) after the birth of every subsequent child.
- 4. He said that women who have given birth to and raised four or more children will be exempt from personal income tax for the rest of their lives.
- 5. He also announced the introduction of a car purchase program for large families. The Government will provide families raising at least three children with a non-repayable grant of HUF 2.5 million ($8,000) for the purchase of new cars with at least seven seats.
- 6. Mr. Orbán went on to say that universal crèche care will be made available. Over a period of three years, 21,000 new places will be created in crèches(childcare facilities): 10,000 this year, 5,000 in 2020 and 6,000 in 2021. This means that by 2022 every family will be able to place their young children in crèche facilities.
- 7. The seventh point of the action plan is the introduction of childcare payments for grandparents: if parents so decide, grandparents will be able to receive childcare payments instead of them. He also announced the modernization of language teaching in secondary schools, which will enable every secondary school student to attend two-week language courses abroad in the summer breaks of their 9th and 11th years in education.
Is there anything you would like to add or criticize if you would consider yourself a conservative? (The libs and lefties can offer input, too, I guess. I'm assuming you would have different reasons for supporting or criticizing such a policy than that I have outlined, though).
