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Pointing upwards: The approval ratings of the FDP with its party leader Christian Lindner
Photo: Michael Kappeler / dpa
With a clear announcement, Christian Lindner tries to position his party in the election campaign.
The FDP leader excludes "any tax increases," the party conference at the weekend affirmed this guarantee - and also promised relief in the event of government participation.
For example, the top tax rate for higher earners should only take effect later.
A mild tax policy is the central election promise of the Liberals.
A survey by the opinion research institute Civey for SPIEGEL now shows: Almost half of Germans think the Liberals' no to future tax increases is correct.
41 percent think the rejection is wrong.
You can find out more about the Civey method
here
.
With a view to the future formation of a government, the issue has some explosive power - a possible traffic light coalition made up of the Greens, SPD and FDP could fail.
In view of the strained budget situation caused by the corona pandemic and the future costs of climate protection, the SPD and the Greens recently brought an increase in wealth tax into play.
Accordingly, Lindner's words are badly received by supporters of the SPD and the Greens.
Not even one in five from this group considers the FDP position to be correct.
Union supporters, on the other hand, clearly support the FDP line - more than two thirds welcome Lindner's determination.
There is also a high level of approval among supporters of the AfD.
The result is supported by a SPIEGEL survey from the beginning of the week.
In particular, supporters of the Greens and the SPD are therefore more willing to accept more taxes and higher consumer prices if the additional state revenues benefit the implementation of their political goals.
It is noteworthy, however, that the FDP demand apparently caught on especially with the youngest voters.
More than half of 18 to 29-year-olds think it is right to exclude tax increases.
In contrast, it is less than half of the over-65s.
The tax issue is likely to keep the parties busy until the general election on September 26th.
In particular, Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet is currently still struggling to find a clear line in dealing with the demands of the liberals.
"I would like a strong FDP in the next Bundestag," said Laschet, who is already ruling with a black-yellow coalition in North Rhine-Westphalia, in the end.
However, he rejected the FDP's insistence on tax breaks.
"Tax relief and tax cuts are not the first thought that comes to my mind in view of this budgetary situation."
Tax debate is risky for Lindner
For Lindner, the focus on taxation is not without its dangers.
The FDP wants to govern again, even if the Germans as a whole do not clearly support the party's participation in government.
The current polls make a black and yellow alliance between the Union and the FDP appear extremely unlikely at the moment.
The Union and the Greens are currently too strong to need the FDP as a third partner in a Jamaican coalition.
So the traffic light coalition with the Greens and the SPD is mathematically the only power option for the FDP at the moment.
FDP moves closer to SPD
The FDP can easily gain ground on the Sunday issue.
Since the end of April, the Liberals have consistently reached more than ten percent, and now even twelve percent.
Does the SPD even have to fear for third place in the federal election?
At least the Social Democrats have been stuck at around 15 percent for weeks, while the Liberals are moving closer.
The AfD is unchanged at ten, the left at six percent.
For the FDP, it is the best poll number since November after the 2017 federal election. At that time, the party won 10.7 percent of the vote, then climbed to just under 13 percent in the polls - and in the years that followed it fell to just over the five percent mark .
There is currently little movement in the duel between the Union and the Greens.
After their survey low of just 23 percent at the end of April, the CDU and CSU are now back at 26 percent.
After their peak values of almost 30 percent at times, the Greens are just behind with currently 23 percent.
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