Henri Arras, deputy chair of the Tallinn regional branch of the Reform Party, proposed on Wednesday lowering mothers' income tax by 3.7 percent for each child.

Arras wrote that since the economic risks of having children are not distributed equally in society, the proposal aims to eliminate this injustice by lowering women's income tax by 3.7 percent per child starting from the moment the child is born.

Reform Party: It's just a thought

Õnne Pillak, chair of the Reform Party group in the Riigikogu, called Arras' proposal a "passing thought" that would require a mandate in parliamentary elections.

"We have not discussed it in the faction; it really is his own passing thought. I would probably lower income tax for everyone even further, I think. But these are all discussions that lie ahead. You can't just say something like this on the spur of the moment — you also have to look at economic forecasts and the balance between revenues and expenditures; we need to look at the bigger picture," Pillak said.

"I think this is not even really a parliamentary group discussion; rather, the party is preparing its program (for the 2027 Riigikogu elections –ed.). I think this discussion belongs within those chapters that make up the different parts of the program. At the moment, we don't have anything like this in the coalition agreement," Pillak said.

"Both entrepreneurs and people expect tax stability from us. They want stability and certainty, not that we start changing things in a rush. For proposals like this, a mandate should be sought in elections. But whether it ends up in the election program is something we will have to discuss in the working groups," Pillak added.

EKRE: Reform copying our policy

Martin Helme, chair of the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE), told ERR Wendnesday that Arras' proposal had been "hijacked" from EKRE.

"A number of items in our program have been poached by Isamaa, while the Center Party is copying a bunch of others. Now, I even see the Reform Party copying our policy — we have been saying for three elections that in order to support having kids, we need income tax incentives for families with children, a reduction of 5 percent per child."

Helme said that in such a situation they need to convince voters that they, as the original, are always better than the copies. Commenting on the Reform Party politician's idea of lowering mothers' income tax, Helme said it was a good example of why the original is better.

"It is a good example of the copy being inferior compared to the original. What we are saying is that both parents, including fathers — because men being the primary breadwinners is still very common in Estonian families — should qualify for the exemption. Secondly, it [the rate reduction] needs to be bigger," Helme said.

SDE: Project for deepening inequality

Reili Rand of the Social Democratic Party said the proposed "mothers' income tax" is the Reform Party's latest project to deepen inequality.

"In the view of the Social Democrats, every child and every parent should be valued by increasing child benefits, improving access to housing and ensuring the availability of free hobby education and school meals, not by creating a gender-based tax exemption," Rand said.

According to her, the Social Democrats believe the idea put forward by a Reform Party member to lower mothers' income tax is a hidden tax gift once again aimed at better-off families, since a mother earning a low salary would gain little from such a tax reduction.

"Unfortunately, under the label of supporting mothers, the Reform Party is once again deepening inequality. The proposed idea does nothing to improve the situation of low-paid mothers and single mothers, whose circumstances are the most difficult given the cost of living — according to data from Statistics Estonia, a third of single mothers live in relative poverty," Rand said.

Rand added that under the blue-black-white banner, the Reform Party has launched a populist campaign to boost its ratings by now proposing tax exemptions it has previously so consistently opposed.

Center: Arras' proposal deserving of debate

Lauri Laats, head of the Center Party's Riigikogu group, said the party has repeatedly made proposals in parliament to make Estonia's family policy more comprehensive and to genuinely support an increase in the birth rate.

"Among other things, we have proposed creating a cross-government working group tasked with mapping Estonia's demographic situation, analyzing the causes of the declining birth rate and developing a concrete action plan to slow the decline in population growth," he said.

He noted that the party has also submitted a range of tax measures to support families: restoring the option for spouses to file a joint tax declaration and share child-related tax benefits, reinstating additional tax-free income for families with children for each child starting with the first, extending tax incentives to cover education expenses for children and other family members and restoring the possibility to deduct home loan interest.

"In addition, we have proposed raising the birth allowance to €1,000 for each child born, increasing support in the case of multiple births and raising the adoption allowance to €1,000 as well, in order to better cover the costs associated with a child joining the family," Laats added.

According to Laats, the Center Party faction considers it important that family policy genuinely contribute to increasing the birth rate and improving families' ability to cope financially. "For this reason, the proposal to reduce mothers' income tax also deserves discussion. In addition, the Center Party is ready to debate whether such a tax incentive should apply only to mothers or more broadly to parents as a whole. However, judging from the discussions taking place in the corridors of the Riigikogu, coalition MPs currently do not appear ready to move forward with this idea," Laats said.

Isamaa: The change would benefit high-paid people

Isamaa Riigikogu faction lead Lea Danilson-Järg said such a proposal fails to take into account the fact that parents with higher education and higher incomes actually have children more often on average than those with lower pay.

"Birth rates would therefore be better supported by more effective assistance for the middle- and lower-income segments of society rather than the wealthier part. A tax exemption provides greater support the higher the salary, while for someone with a low income the benefit is microscopic," Danilson-Järg said.

"Universal support measures, such as the child benefit or the large-family allowance, reach everyone in the same amount and therefore tend to help those with lower incomes more and create opportunities for those who have fewer opportunities. An approach through the tax system may not be the most purposeful," Danilson-Järg said.

"But in itself it is very welcome that there are also people within the Reform Party who are actively thinking about how to better support families and encourage higher birth rates," she added.

Eesti 200: Idea half-baked

Irja Lutsar, a member of the Eesti 200 parliamentary faction, which is part of the ruling coalition with the Reform Party, said the group has not discussed the proposal and she therefore cannot present its official position, though it seems to her personally to be poorly thought out.

"Most women in Estonia are mothers (even those whose children are adults remain mothers) and therefore a 3.7-percent income tax cut would affect more than half of the working population. At the same time, those who have decided to stay at home with children would not receive any benefit and may therefore feel they are being treated unequally. I understand that the proposal was made with the aim of increasing the birth rate, but it is not clear whether it would actually achieve that goal," Lutsar said.

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