When the Grand Coalition recently presented their mid-term review, the ground-breaking issue was only: "The basic pension should be targeted and benefit those who need it." For months, there has been no compromise on the issue enshrined in the coalition agreement. The core of the dispute is the question of how strict is to be checked, who may claim the performance. The SPD rejects the means test required by the Union.
Now, the economic wing of the Union is also creating new conditions for an agreement. The SMEs of the CDU / CSU Group not only demand an effective assessment of their needs. They are also against the plan of Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) to finance the new performance using the proposed financial transaction tax. "In the coalition agreement, we have called for the introduction of a Europe-wide financial transaction tax," says Hans Michel Bach, chairman of the Union in the Finance Committee, the SPIEGEL.
Scholz, on the other hand, recently brought into conversation the introduction of a purely national tax on share sales. However, this does not correspond to what we have negotiated, says Michelbach. "Such a tax would not burden cross-border financial movements, but German savers who buy shares for old-age insurance". It was the wrong way "to increase the statutory pension at the expense of private pension funds". The financial expert also considers the volume of the planned levy to be too low to cover the cost of the basic pension. "It is therefore unsuitable as a source of financing," says Michelbach.
On Sunday, the coalition committee meets to talk about the permanent theme of land rent. As the discussion got stuck, he had been postponed for a week at short notice.
