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Comment on Corona and the fraud in aid: The state must help - but correctly

2020-12-05T23:08:58.929Z


The victory against in the fight against the virus is taking longer to come than hoped. The lockdown gets harder and longer. And, of all things, at the height of the wave of infections, the VAT cut should end now. A mistake, says Merkur editor-in-chief Georg Anastasiadis.


The victory against in the fight against the virus is taking longer to come than hoped.

The lockdown gets harder and longer.

And, of all things, at the height of the wave of infections, the VAT cut should end now.

A mistake, says Merkur editor-in-chief Georg Anastasiadis.

The Chancellor sees the corona pandemic as "light at the end of the tunnel".

The fact that her Union colleague Markus Söder argues about the need for new curfews just one day after the lockdown was extended beyond the turn of the year shows, of course, that the journey in the Corona tunnel will likely drag on for a while.

Economics Minister Altmaier sees an end to the severe economic disruptions only in the course of 2022.

As long as the state bans its citizens and companies and often brings them to the brink of their existence, it must also be responsible for the consequences of its actions.

But the huge aid linked to lost sales, which the grand coalition pays out to real and supposed corona victims for November and December, is a dangerous way: companies with low fixed costs make their business their life, as do fraudsters who can be found everywhere the state is on the move with the cornucopia and offers "unbureaucratic" help.

This undermines the idea of ​​solidarity, without which no society can get through the crisis well.

The state can most effectively help the battered citizens and businesses and strengthen the economy by maintaining the VAT cut that came into force almost six months ago beyond the end of the year to the extent that the corona restrictions have to be extended.

Households that (have to) spend a large part of their income on consumption, i.e. families, pensioners and Hartz IV recipients, benefit from it in particular.

Many have suffered a loss of income this year, some have made purchases trusting the tax advantage that will not be delivered until next year due to disrupted supply chains and will then be subject to the increased tax rate.

Politicians are still reacting rather tightly to recommendations to maintain the VAT cut.

Sure, it costs the state a lot of money.

But in the end, their leakage would be even more expensive for all of us at the peak of the wave of infections.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-12-05

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