Planned citizen money: Heil wants a standard rate of 502 euros

According to a bill by the Ministry of Labour, the standard rate for the citizens’ income planned by the coalition should be 502 euros per month. The previous Hartz IV rates would therefore be increased by 53 euros on January 1, 2023.

If Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil has his way, the basic income from January 1, 2023 should be 502 euros per month. The Department of Labor has dem ARD-Capital studio confirmed. The minister’s draft law, from which the editorial network Germany first quoted, is currently being coordinated by the departments.

The coalition parties SPD, Greens and SPD want to convert the previous Hartz IV standard rates into the new citizens’ income. At 502 euros, it would then be 53 euros above the previous Hartz IV standard rate for single people without children. For adult partners there would be 451 euros in the future. For children depending on their age between 318 and 420 euros.

Orientation also to upcoming inflation rate

If Labor Minister Heil has his way, the draft law should be passed by the cabinet as quickly as possible. In the future, the method of adjusting citizen income to inflation should also be new. Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently spoke of a paradigm shift, since the rates of citizen income should then be based on the forthcoming inflation rate.

So far, the actual inflation rate was only taken into account retrospectively for the recalculation. The new method would prevent – as is currently the case – prices from rising much faster than the regular adjustment of the standard rates.

FDP warns of incalculable costs

In the traffic light coalition, the FDP in particular had repeatedly warned of incalculable costs. Finance Minister Christian Lindner had declared that citizen income should be an activation and not an unconditional basic income.

In the most recent coalition committee, the traffic light coalition then agreed in principle to take inflation into account more quickly.