Madrid, Spain, Sep 28, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Left-wing politicians in Spain’s House of Representatives successfully voted down a measure this week that would have given a tax break of 100 euros per month to mothers with children under three years of age and who are unable to work outside the home for various reasons.
The proposed measure would have extended the tax breaks which are currently enjoyed by mothers who work to all mothers with children under three years of age.
Merce Pigem, a spokesman for one of the political parties that supported the measure, said that extending this assistance would have helped “alleviate the cost a family bears in having a child.” She added that although it would constitute “a significant amount for the State,” the measure would have been “an investment in families.”
She warned that rejection of the proposal “leaves other mothers who don’t work because they can’t find employment out in the cold.” Pigem noted that the tax breaks for mothers who do work were approved during the conservative Popular Party’s government, in order to encourage women not to abandon the workforce.