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Green politician Katharina Beck
Photo: Political Moments / IMAGO
Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) has promised massive tax cuts – which are particularly beneficial for top earners.
The plans are now causing resentment in the traffic light coalition, and the Greens are sharply criticizing Lindner's proposals.
"Tax relief in the billions, from which many earners benefit three times as much in absolute terms as less earners - that is not up to date," said the spokeswoman for financial policy for the Greens parliamentary group, Katharina Beck, to the newspapers of the editorial network Germany.
"It would be the other way around: strong shoulders should carry more than those with a low income and not be disproportionately relieved."
“These really hard times hit those who have little money in particular,” said the Green finance politician.
She also criticized Lindner's rejection of an excess profit tax.
»From a financial point of view, it is a mystery how the desired debt brake is to be observed with this further proposal in the billions if at the same time the possibilities for additional income are blocked, such as by an excess profit tax.«
Today, Lindner is presenting the cornerstones of an »Inflation Compensation Act«, which in particular is about tax relief for citizens.
Lindner wants to reduce the so-called cold progression.
The term describes the effect that someone slips into a higher tax rate due to a wage increase that at most compensates for inflation and thus ultimately has less money in their pocket in relation to purchasing power.
»The opposite of accurate and socially unfair«
Criticism of Lindner's plans also comes from the Left Party: "It's the opposite of accurate and socially unfair," said Dietmar Bartsch, the head of the Left Party, to the RND newspapers.
»Those who earn a lot benefit the most.«
A major tax reform, financed by top earners, is needed to relieve the burden on people with small and middle incomes.
"The tax burden is too high for low and average earners - long before the exploding energy prices," said Bartsch.
The SPD and the Greens would also have to assert themselves against the FDP blockade on the excess profit tax and introduce a one-off property tax.
"If taxes and the distribution of the costs of the crisis aren't finally fairer, the country will fly apart socially," said the left-wing politician.
An excess profit tax would affect companies that profit from the current energy crisis without their own performance.
In Great Britain, for example, oil and gas companies must temporarily pay 25 percent tax on their additional profits.
mrc/dpa
