Green party wants to give 18-year-olds a 'starting capital' of €10,000

One of the plans in GroenLinks' election program is for the government to give young people a "starting capital" of 10 thousand euros when they turn 18. They can use this money for their own development, for example to pay tuition fees, start their own business, or retrain for a more promising labor market sector, NOS and Het Parool report.

The green party is worried about the inequality in opportunities between people in the Netherlands, and think this starting capital can help in decreasing that inequality. "Where you were born determines your opportunities in life and poverty is passed on from generation to generation," the party said. 

According to the party, this plan will cost about 2.2 billion euros per year. GroenLinks wants to pay for it through a "solidarity contribution" by millionaires. People with more than a million euros in wealth will have to annually pay 1 percent of their assets above that amount to the government. Those with two million euros or more have to pay 2 percent on their assets over 2 million euros. Property values will not be considered as part of your wealth. 

The GroenLinks election program for the 2021 parliamentary elections, which will officially be presented on Saturday, also replaces the current student loan system with a "new scholarship" in which students receive a maximum of 400 euros per month. All students who took out loans in the past five years must also receive 10 thousand euros in compensation. "This is to ensure that the generation that has been disadvantaged by the loan system gets a bit in return."

The PvdA also believes that the loan system generation should receive compensation, but will only elaborate on that when presenting its election program at the end of the month. The D66 wants to reduce student debt by giving students with study loans retroactive grants. The party wants to spend between 3 billion and 8 billion euros on this.