A unified social help is also thought of in Germany, though i do not see this happening soon. Would help to get rid of a lot of bureaucracy, and good old competition will still see people work more, to be able to afford more.
The middle class slowly but surely gets ruined with the way it is now. Taxes are too high, and the government discourages self-employed work with all kinds of obstacles, apart from needing 90 or so percent of the time to fill in forms and communicate with the office of inland revenue. And if you do not keep them informed all the time, they estimate your income and demand taxes for it.
You then have to
prove that it was less, but only after you paid. And then
maybe you get a refund, a year later
And e.g. dustbins, you have to automatically have at least two if you have an office, and you pay for lending and emptying those if you need/use it or not. You need a kitchen, a restroom a.s.o. with workers, even if they are only there half a day. Escape routes, fire regulations etc.. While this is important and ok for big companies, it breaks your back as a startup.
If you want to generate a revenue of say 1500 Euros after tax and expenses, you need an income of 8000.
Been there, done that. Cured me pretty soon.
Funnily enough just of all the EU now tries to reduce paperwork and this unnecessary bovine scatology, by higher order. Germany's national government blockheads are crying wulf about that of course
"It is our country and we say what happens or not".. oh yes, but it is also the country of all those other people, so.. go to hell.