PAFERE  Articles Articles Interview with Michał Wojciechowski, Lay Professor of Theology, by Paweł Toboła-Pertkiewicz
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Interview with Michał Wojciechowski, Lay Professor of Theology, by Paweł Toboła-Pertkiewicz |
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23.05.2008. |
 What is the condition of the family in Poland?
It is not good. The decline of the birthrate in recent years may serve as sufficient proof of that fact. A typical urban family equals one set of parents and one child. Even from a purely biological point of view, if people do not reproduce, then there must be something wrong with the society and the family unit. Other significant facts that point to this are the increasing numbers of divorces and the increasing amount of people who are lonely.
What are the reasons for this situation?
The moral reasons are the tens of years that people have had accessibility to abortion and divorces. The economic reasons, taxation and insurance systems, are also weakening the family. Both types of reasons are the result of detrimental policies from those who have wielded the power.
Who do you mean?
The killing of millions of conceived children is a crime of the European left-wingers. The economic weakening of the family is characteristic of the whole Western world.
What is the nature of the latter, less known, problem?
In every system old people have to be supported by younger people who are still able to work. However, this principle can be introduced in a variety of forms. What was the result of substituting state pensions for savings and mutual aid of family members? The State had to impose taxes and compulsory premiums on those who worked. The taxed persons were usually parents with children. Consequently, they had less money left for the needs of their children. Some of them decided not to have another child. Thus, there were fewer laborers in the next generation. The burden the State put on them had to be increased. Parents had even less money left for their children, and so on. Hardly anyone is aware of this mechanism, but people act as if they were taking it into account. They notice the fact that children are costly and the welfare of elderly people is not dependent on the support received from their offsprings. It pays better not to have any children and receive a retirement benefit which is financed by someone else's children. The compulsory retirement pension insurance is detrimental and immoral as it leads to living at the expense of other people. Even the wealthiest country will be brought to bankruptcy by such pension systems.
Another factor is taxation. First of all, taxes are too high. In Poland the public sector absorbs one half of all the money in the economy. Employees give away in taxes about two-thirds of their income, farmers and pensioners about a third. Until recently the income tax did not take into account the situation of the family. The State treated expenses on children and expenses on leisure equally. The way the tax was calculated made the family pay a little more for each family member. VAT and other indirect taxes, in turn, put the burden on consumers, and so they are more harmful to families who, by necessity, spend more on everyday consumption.
How can we change it?
Getting out of the pension trap means tens of years of conscious actions. Unfortunately, politicians do not look further than the nearest elections, and the bureaucracy is against any budget reductions. However, in better governed countries families receive substantial allowances.
Is this the way to tackle the problem?
It is not a perfect solution. When taxes are low, allowances are not needed and there is enough income left for the family. At present there is, however, no other choice. The families' losses have to be recompensed. Let us begin to lower taxes with families. That means a flat tax regime, so that people will have an incentive to work harder. This will result in larger allowances for children and allow a parent to take care of them at home. Otherwise there will only be government officials and hungry pensioners left in Poland.
Critics of governmental programs say the aid is unsuccessful because it does not always reach the needy ones.
State distributed social aid will always be wasteful. However, it is not a central problem, neither is the childbirth benefit. Besides, rather limited amounts are at stake here. Tax allowances and a proper organization of those spheres of life which are important for families - these are problems of great significance.
What spheres of life do you have in mind?
For example, house building. The recent rise in the number of newly constructed flats and houses is the result of people's desire to have their own estates where they could live and raise their children. Much of the income earned abroad is spent to serve that aim. I think the recent construction boom will lead to a an increase in the number of children. And what is the government doing? It is considering higher taxation of real estates. It is liquidating building allowances. It is extremely slow at improving the onerous law. Local authorities block the sale of state-owned building sites in order to raise their prices. They prepare land development plans sluggishly.
And what would happen if the State simply did not make any pro- or anti- family policy?
Low taxes are always pro-, and high taxes anti-, family solutions. But, of course, it would be better, both for the family and the economy, if the government did not interfere.
Contrary to this, children will be forced to start school education a year earlier.
The argument is that this is the state of affairs in the European Union and that there is a need to provide employment for teachers. The ministry and the unions are cynical. Of course, able children can go to school a year earlier, but on the voluntary basis. However, it is not the main problem in the situation when education is compulsory. The teacher has to concentrate on teaching the less able children some minimal amount of knowledge, and the more able ones lose time. In such a school discipline and safety must also be a problem.
And the results.
Of course. If what junior secondary school teachers say is correct, 10-20 percent of primary school graduates cannot read or write, and most of them cannot multiply basic numbers. All-Poland tests for the sixth grade are intentionally too easy. It's hard to believe that parents consider state school as a help and benefit.
Because it is for free.
There is a way to reconcile the general wish that school be financed by the state budget and a better level of teaching. It is the school voucher. Parents receive a voucher representing an average cost of education in a given type of school and use it to pay for the service. Then they can make demands, take the child away, and so on. The reform must include decentralization. Buildings should be given to public, private or church schools, otherwise there will no real choice. The Ministry of Education is against such a solution because the officials and experts will become redundant, and the government will lose its power over education and the ability to make use of ideological manipulation.
School education is one of the spheres where the government pokes its nose into family matters. And what would be other ways of government interference?
I have mentioned divorces. At their wedding Catholics take an oath to live together until death. A state judge can declare this oath invalid. Recently another harmful idea is being considered, that is the proposal that parents be punished like criminals for spanking their children. It is understandable that someone may avoid using physical punishments, but there is no reason to forbid using them at all. There is nothing immoral, much less criminal, in a spank. This proposal shows that the government does not accept an autonomic status of the family and wants to eliminate its independence.
The Children's Rights Commissioner supported it.
Claiming that it will decrease violence against children. It will not. A criminal will still maltreat his children, and the police will pursue me, you and your dear readers. It would be better if the Commissioner directed her attention towards liquidating orphanages and sending children to foster families. Children cannot be properly raised in orphanages which are like military barracks or prisons. Anyway, children's and women's rights commissioners seem to be inherently demagogic institutions. They should merge with the single Civil Rights Commissioner which has a broader perspective.
We keep talking about economics and politics, not about morality or Christianity.
On the contrary! We demand high moral standards from the authorities, we want justice for families. It would not be right to talk about the vocation of the family when everyday reality puts spokes in its wheel. It is true that a Christian is obliged to stand against the stream, but that does not mean that it is justified to organize the society according to wrong principles. People, generally, should have a chance to build a healthy family.
In short, are the prospects for the family bad?
They are not very good in the short run. However, we should remember that the family is a necessary element of human life. I think it will survive even the bureaucracy. |
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