Socialists want to eradicate poverty

A joint meeting of the Executive Board (Framkvæmdastjórn) and the Policy Board (Málefnastjórn) of the Socialist Party of Iceland (Sósíalistaflokkur Íslands) declares the party's support for all poor people on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, October 17, as well as on all other days. The party will support the struggle of those groups that research has shown to be exposed to poverty. The most numerous of these groups are disabled people, immigrants, the elderly, tenants, single parents, and low-wage earners.

The fact that our social system pushes these groups below the poverty line reveals the cruelty of the system. Instead of ensuring everyone a decent livelihood and the opportunity for a good life, tens of thousands are forced into financial anxiety. Large groups of people have to deny themselves food, medical care, leisure, and rest. The struggle of these groups for justice is the most important struggle for a good society.

The easiest way to improve society is to fix what is broken. Therefore, the wish list of the poor should be the government's guiding principle. Their goal should be to provide security, shelter, and a guaranteed livelihood to those living in poverty and insecurity. That would be a sound government policy, unlike the one pursued by the current government. The government's policy is based on asking the rich and powerful what they lack and then using their wish list as a task list.

From the Socialist Party's address,Let's eradicate poverty, seven demands of the poor are presented, which are a guide on the path to a better society:

SEVEN KEYS TO ERADICATING POVERTYI. Let's stop taxing povertyIt is both foolish and immoral to collect taxes from people whose incomes are so low that they cannot support themselves. The minimum subsistence level for individuals and families should be investigated, and taxation of incomes falling below that level should be banned. If the housing costs of each taxpayer need to be taken into account, it should be done.

II. No one with less than minimum wagePensioners, disabled people, unemployed people, students, and those supported by municipalities do not have the strike weapon to fight for their conditions. The incomes of these groups shall therefore be based at a minimum on the lowest agreed-upon wage conditions in the labor market.

III. Children have no income and therefore cannot bear any expensesChildren must be specially protected from poverty. Children have no income, and therefore it is absurd to impose fees on them for healthcare, education, leisure activities, transportation, or anything else that can be classified as services to which all children are entitled. Children should receive a personal tax allowance like adults, so that a family's personal allowance is proportional to the number of family members.

IV. Free healthcareIll health, accidents, or traumas should not undermine people's finances. It is enough that people struggle with the diseases themselves, the consequences of accidents and traumas, and the resulting loss of income, without health and medical institutions adding to the burden and charging the sick. We should pay for healthcare when we are healthy and in the workforce, not when we have become sick and infirm.

V. The Housing Revolution: 30 thousand apartments in ten yearsAffordable and secure housing is a prerequisite for all welfare and healthcare services. Financial support for those living with rent gouging is burned up in the housing market. Personal support and empowerment for those living with relentless financial anxiety do not work. The fundamental prerequisite for building a robust welfare system here, which in turn is a prerequisite for eradicating poverty, is a major effort in the construction of social housing. Socialists propose a housing revolution where 30 thousand social housing units will be built across the country in the next ten years.

VI. Protect tenants from profiteersMost low-income people in the rental market are squeezed between low incomes and exorbitant rents. To protect these people until the construction of social housing has permanently lowered rental prices, a rent cap must be imposed to stop the gouging, housing benefits must be increased so that no one pays more than a quarter of their income in housing costs, and laws on tenancy must be enacted to ensure tenants' security and protection. These laws should, for example, stipulate that tenant organizations are a negotiating party regarding rental prices.

VII. Build up public organizationsThe best way to ensure justice and equality in society is for the public to organize their advocacy in trade unions and other public organizations. The state should encourage and strengthen such organizations. To protect the poor from the counter-attack of capital, strong tenant organizations, organizations of pensioners, students, and the unemployed, organizations of immigrants and children, organizations of people supported by municipalities, patients, debtors, and consumers are needed. Powerful organizations of this kind are a prerequisite for building a just society here. Public advocacy organizations should become the main partner of the state and take the place of the interest groups of the rich and powerful.