49 euro ticket?
FDP sees a problem of justice: "People in the country have to finance it"
Created: 08/31/2022, 09:20 am
By: Andreas Schmid
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil (l) is pushing for "really quick" decisions on a new relief package.
FDP politician Stephan Thomae tells our editorial team that he doesn't think so.
© Fabian Sommer/Jörg Carstensen/dpa/picture alliance (montage)
The traffic light meets at Meseberg Castle.
The SPD wants to put forward a third relief package.
However, the government still does not agree on all points.
Berlin/Meseberg – The traffic light ministers will meet at Meseberg Castle on Tuesday and Wednesday.
In Brandenburg, among other things, the tense energy supply and a possible third relief package are at stake.
Before the meeting, the SPD increases the pressure on the coalition partners, especially on the FDP.
The brakes in conversation with
Merkur.de
from
IPPEN.MEDIA.
"
I do not expect that concrete measures will be decided in Meseberg," said the parliamentary director of the Bundestag Liberals, Stephan Thomae.
49-euro ticket, payments, tenant protection: SPD plans third relief concept
But the SPD wants quick decisions.
Relief is needed "really quickly now," SPD leader Lars Klingbeil told
Stern
magazine on Tuesday .
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert called for a speedy decision "in a few days".
The SPD parliamentary group also presented a relief concept that also reaches pensioners and students - and includes a 49-euro ticket for public transport.
Direct payments:
this time only for those on middle and lower incomes, pensioners, recipients of unemployment benefits, students and trainees – nothing was initially known about the planned amount.
Tenant protection:
The SPD wants to rule out terminations due to unpaid operating costs for the time being.
Tenants should also be protected against electricity and gas cuts if they cannot pay the additional costs.
Discounted public transport:
The 9-euro ticket is about to expire.
The SPD is thinking of a 49-euro ticket, the additional costs of which the federal and state governments should each finance half.
Gas levy:
The SPD wants to readjust the heavily criticized levy.
Corporations with billions in profits should not benefit.
Anyone who applies for the support may not pay dividends or bonuses.
SPD relief package: focus on pensioners and students
The SPD seems to want to focus on two population groups with the planned relief.
pensioners and students.
The FDP thinks so too.
"For future one-off relief measures, the focus must be primarily on those who are particularly affected by the current crisis situation," said Thomae.
"So pensioners and students."
In addition, the cold progression must "urgently" be dismantled "in order to protect the hard-working middle of society from additional burdens in the long term." Thomae referred to the Inflation Compensation Act of FDP Finance Minister Christian Lindner.
The cold progression
The term "cold progression" describes a kind of creeping tax increase, when a pay rise is completely eaten up by inflation, but still results in higher taxation.
Result: Although the salary has increased, you actually have less money in your pocket.
SPD demands 49-euro ticket through excess profit tax: FDP rejects
With its demands, the SPD in the coalition is primarily in line with the Greens.
The eco-party is also demanding discounted tickets for buses and trains.
She had previously introduced a nationwide 49-euro ticket and a regional ticket for 29 euros a month.
The Association of German Transport Companies proposes a nationwide ticket for 69 euros.
However, the FDP-led Ministry of Transport slowed down recently.
A rapid successor to the 9-euro ticket, which expires on September 1, is not to be expected.
It is currently failing mainly because of the money.
"There are no funds available in the financial planning for a continuation of the 9-euro ticket," said Finance Minister and FDP leader Lindner.
According to Klingbeil, relief such as the 49-euro ticket is to be financed via an excess profit tax, which the Greens are also demanding.
The FDP clearly rejects such a model.
excess profit tax
This special tax is intended to collect profits from companies that go beyond “normal profit”.
The SPD and the Greens see this as a given especially in the case of crisis winners, such as oil companies, which are making enormous profits from the Ukraine war and rising prices.
The FDP argues that there are no excess profits, only profits and losses.
A "surplus" is difficult to define.
49 euro ticket?
FDP sees a problem of justice: "People in the country have to finance it"
The FDP does not seem to be moving away from its veto on the excess profit tax.
The Liberals entered government with a promise of “no tax increases”.
The party is still skeptical about discounted public transport, but has now expressed its willingness to talk.
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai called for “clear commitments” from the federal states on future financing in the RTL/ntv program “Frühstart” on Tuesday.
It is also important that the network structures of the transport companies are changed so that everything can be made “efficient and transparent” and more digitization can be used.
But: "If these criteria are taken into account, I think a successor model is realistic."
Thomae also sees the countries as having a duty in the event of a follow-up ticket.
"Because otherwise, the citizens of the country would have to use their tax money to help finance the local public transport in the metropolitan areas, even though they cannot use it at all and are still dependent on the car." The nine-euro ticket has the "long-neglected public transport" pushed to its limits and deficits revealed.
"In the long term, we therefore need a reform of local public transport with improved digitization and standardization of tariff structures." It currently seems unclear whether these structures can be accompanied by a discounted ticket.
Relief package: FDP sets conditions for SPD and Greens
FDP faction leader Christian Dürr meanwhile set conditions for their own relief proposals from the SPD and the Greens.
Within the coalition, it is not only necessary to reach an agreement on how to combat cold progression, but also on extending the life of nuclear power plants, he told the editorial network Germany.
The FDP sees this “continues to be a crucial point, also in order to stabilize the electricity price and prevent even greater burdens on citizens”.
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