Corona plunged the economy into recession. It is undisputed that the state has to help. But how concrete - that is. Before consulting the coalition leaders, all sides are staking stakes.
Berlin (dpa) - The federal government wants to help the recession-plagued economy in the Corona crisis with a billion-dollar economic stimulus program - but the details are controversial.
Should taxes be reduced so that citizens can spend more money and companies can make ends meet? Or should families be promoted? How should municipalities be relieved so that they invest more? The leaders of the coalition parties want to discuss this on Tuesday.
HOW BIG THE ECONOMIC PROGRAM WILL BE
According to "Bild am Sonntag", the volume could be between 75 and 80 billion euros. The federal government should take over "well over 60 billion", the states the rest, reports the newspaper, citing government circles. The mark of 100 billion euros, which CSU boss Markus Söder had declared as the upper limit, should be "clearly below". Söder supports a package, but confirmed his warning in the "Welt am Sonntag" ("WamS"): "It is not of any use to us that Germany itself will ultimately become a restructuring case."
WHAT'S PLANNED
It is known that Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) is pushing for three measures in particular: the extension of short-time work benefits from one to two years - but according to "Bams" most likely without the current increase from 60 to up to 80 percent (67/87 percent for Parents), a one-time family bonus of 300 euros per child as well as a rescue package for the municipalities with reimbursement of old debts and compensation for the slump in trade tax income, financed half by the federal and state governments.
Söder said: "We have to strengthen domestic demand to partially offset weaker exports," said the Prime Minister of Bavaria. "We should prefer to abolish the solidarity surcharge. That would be the biggest tax cut in more than 30 years. A family bonus also makes sense." In addition, companies would have to be relieved and structurally strengthened. Söder called degressive depreciation, better options for offsetting losses, lowering energy costs and an investment program for municipalities.
WHAT'S DISPUTED
One of the most controversial is that Scholz combines the relief of the municipalities with the issue of old debts. The Union wants to present a counter-concept in the coalition committee, from which the "WamS" quotes. In the paper of the Vice-Group leader responsible for finance Andreas Jung and the head of the CDU local authority association, Christian Haase, an assumption of the old debts is rejected. Instead, other help for municipalities is proposed: Among other things, the federal government should assume three quarters instead of half of the accommodation costs for the unemployed, waive its share of trade taxes this year and next, as well as the federal states, and 90 percent of the costs in the municipal investment program take over. The countries should shoulder the rest, the report says.
Scholz's old debt initiative is rejected not only in the Union. Baden-Württemberg's Green Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann also confirmed his no. "The municipalities are part of the federal states. Federal Finance Minister Scholz wants to change the Basic Law in order to have a say. That cannot be done with me because it will once again shift the federal structure centrally. True to the motto money against skills," he told the newspapers the Funke media group. Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria have no over-indebted municipalities and should not be disadvantaged.
North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU), who has many indebted municipalities in his country, insisted on massive aid for cities and municipalities. "I cannot imagine an economic stimulus package without a rescue package for the municipalities," he told Spiegel. As the largest public investors, they could above all strengthen local handicrafts and the local economy. Laschet called for "a significant reduction in the cost of accommodation" - as provided for in the Union paper.
WHAT CORONA HAS COST TO date
The pandemic has so far cost the state 287.5 billion euros according to a calculation by the Institute of German Business (IW), as the "BamS" reports. The federal, state and local governments would have incurred additional expenditure of EUR 192.9 billion and a loss of revenue of EUR 94.6 billion. The debt ratio rose to 79.9 percent.
