Debate about Lindner's tax plan: SPD boss Klingbeil is open - criticize the Union and the Greens
Created: 08/11/2022, 18:28
By: Fabian Mueller
Finance Minister Christian Lindner has been criticized.
© Michael Kappeler/dpa-Pool/dpa
Christian Lindner's political proposals are currently being met with criticism both within and outside the coalition.
Now, surprisingly, a social democrat is taking his side.
Berlin – Many Social Democrats are currently suspicious of Finance Minister Christian Lindner.
Lindner all rejected calls for a successor to the 9-euro ticket, an excess profit tax, a move away from the debt brake or higher standard rates for the new citizen income.
And the relief package against the high inflation does not exactly meet with joy in the SPD.
Above all, higher earners would be relieved - and not those who need it most, argue many social democrats.
Surprisingly, the head of the SPD, Lars Klingbeil, swims against this line.
Klingbeil told the Spiegel
news magazine
: "It is correct that Finance Minister Lindner is taking a constructive part in the debate on relief with his proposals.
In addition to the 30 billion euros that were initiated in the first two relief packages, further, targeted relief is needed if the gas surcharge on top of the increased energy prices comes on top again from October.
This can also include tax relief.”
Lindner's tax plan under criticism: SPD boss Klingbeil, of all people, jumps to his side
The federal chairman of the SPD also emphasized that the "hard-working middle class with small and medium-sized incomes" and "not the top earners in our country" should be the focus of politics.
However, Lindner's suggestions are "a contribution to an overall package that should now be launched quickly."
Meanwhile, other tones are coming from the opposition.
The CDU chairman Friedrich Merz has criticized the federal government's relief packages as ineffective.
For possible future aid measures, he called for a targeted focus on those sections of the population who actually need support.
"It would have been better to give households in need a little more instead of distributing money with the watering can," Merz told the
German Press Agency
.
“In my view, that is the completely wrong approach.
That puts a strain on the federal budget and not enough gets to those who really need support.”
The two main cornerstones of the previous programs were the 9-euro ticket and the energy money, explained the opposition leader in the Bundestag.
The following applies to the 9-euro ticket: "Instead of improving local public transport, demand was artificially boosted - with a flash in the pan effect." In September, all 300 euros would then receive energy money.
"Let me say: the vast majority of households don't need it."
Video: Lindner defends tax plans as "socially balanced"
The Green finance politician Katharina Beck had also previously expressed criticism of Lindner's plans.
She told the
editorial network Germany
: "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." (fmü / dpa / afp)
