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Passers-by in Stuttgart: More money for families, the poor and companies
Surcharges for families and poor people, tax aid for companies, cash injections for culture: the grand coalition agreed on some measures on Wednesday evening to cushion the financial consequences of the corona pandemic for those particularly affected.
The Union and the SPD want to provide more than ten billion euros for this.
Which measures have the coalition leaders decided in detail - and how far have the corresponding demands been met?
An overview:
Help for families and poor adults
(Cost to the state: around three billion euros)
Child bonus of 150 euros
As in the previous year, there should be a surcharge on child benefit, but only half the amount.
In concrete terms, it should be 150 euros for each child.
Families who live from basic security will also feel this again: the child bonus - unlike other social benefits - is not counted towards Hartz IV.
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This means that families with low and middle incomes benefit from the child bonus.
Since the child benefit is offset against the tax-free amount, families with high incomes will also receive the child bonus, but will have to pay correspondingly higher taxes later.
The SPD in particular had called for a new child bonus.
The child bonus could also benefit the economy: Low-income families quickly spend most of the additional money on urgently needed purchases, as the union-related Institute for Macroeconomics and Business Research (IMK) found in a recent study on the effect of the child bonus in 2020.
One-time payment in the basic security of 150 euros
Recipients of Hartz IV and basic security in old age are particularly affected by the corona crisis: In many places social facilities are only open to a limited extent, food prices have risen disproportionately, hundreds of thousands of mini-jobs have been lost.
So far there has been no additional help for childless basic income support recipients in the pandemic;
The purchase of free FFP2 masks has been decided, but it will take some time before the recipients get something.
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Free FFP2 masks: Hartz IV recipients still have to be patient
Therefore, adult recipients of the basic security should now receive an additional one-off payment of 150 euros.
The SPD had campaigned for this too.
The coalition is still far behind the demands of the opposition, trade unions, social and family associations.
A corresponding alliance calls for a permanent increase in the basic security to at least 600 euros instead of the currently applicable 446 euros for singles or 401 euros per person for couples.
Easier access with basic security extended until the end of 2021
The strict Hartz IV rules have been relaxed for self-employed people and employees with low incomes who got into trouble during the corona crisis: assets and pension provision no longer have to be touched (specifically, the corresponding euro limits have been raised significantly), and housing costs are also made independent Adopted by appropriateness limits for expensive apartments, so that nobody has to move to a smaller apartment.
This regulation has now been extended until the end of 2021.
Help for companies
Higher loss carry-back
(Costs: under one billion euros according to an estimate by the Ministry of Finance)
Above all, the Union had called for companies with corona-related losses to be given more help.
Now you can offset these losses more extensively than before with profits from previous years.
For this, the so-called loss carry-back is to be increased again: to a maximum of ten million euros or 20 million euros in the case of joint investments.
Last year, the amounts had already been increased from one (or two) to five (or ten) million euros.
As a result of the increase, larger companies that are generally healthy and who have got into financial bottlenecks as a result of the corona measures will now receive money quickly and easily.
A
calculation example
for the effect of loss carry-back: Assume that a larger retailer made a profit of ten million euros in 2019 and has already paid tax.
In 2020, the corona crisis resulted in a loss of 15 million euros.
So far, the dealer has been able to claim five million euros retrospectively from this loss, so instead of ten million euros, he only had to tax five million euros.
Now he can claim ten million euros - specifically, no taxes at all for 2019.
The taxes already paid will now be returned in full.
VAT reduction for gastronomy
(Cost: around 3.5 billion euros per year)
In order to support the particularly hard hit gastronomy, the federal government decided last year to lower the VAT on meals in restaurants and cafes to seven percent.
However, the regulation expires at the end of June - and is currently of no use, as the catering is closed in the shutdown.
Therefore, the regulation will now be extended until the end of 2022.
This increases the chances that the reduction will still be effective once the pandemic is under control and restaurants can be reopened without restrictions.
In terms of the estimated cost of the state budget, it is the largest of the relief measures decided on Wednesday.
The CSU in particular campaigned for this reduction.
Help for culture
(Cost: one billion euros)
The already existing aid program “Neustart Kultur” is being extended.
Specifically, there should be a follow-up program that will be endowed with one billion euros.
It is aimed primarily at privately financed institutions such as concert stages, museums, theaters, cultural centers or literature houses.
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