Slovakia, Roma, and Social Benefits

Another article in the Slovak press about a survey on social benefits that dismantles the misconception that financial support for Roma is the main cause of high taxes and public finance deficits in Slovakia. This is a widespread myth in that country.

The survey checked that tamilies with more than three children receive 45 million euros a year through child allowance and parental allowance, which is just a drop in the ocean compared to total public spending. The number of children was chosen as a proxy, as ethnicity is not recorded in the statistics. The reasoning is that while not all families with more than three children are Roma, this will contain many of them.