State parliament approves record budget for two years
Created: 12/20/2022, 8:21 p.m
The Saxon State Parliament.
© Sebastian Kahnert/dpa
Saxony wants to spend more money than ever before in the next two years.
On Tuesday evening, the Saxon state parliament passed the dual budget for 2023 and 2024. It has a total volume of 49.34 billion euros, and in 2024 the annual mark of 25 billion euros will be exceeded for the first time.
All amendments proposed by the opposition parties AfD and Linke were rejected by the CDU, Greens and SPD.
Dresden - "Due to the currently high tax revenue and by resorting to the reserves built up in the past, we have managed to set up a record budget in the truest sense of the word," said CDU Finance Minister Hartmut Vorjohann.
However, he did not hide his concerns: "We have moved a bit far from the principle that expenditure follows income."
According to Vorjohann, there is a funding deficit of 2.7 billion euros in the new budget.
The Free State pays the deficit from reserves.
The minister speaks of substance consumption.
“In Saxony, however, we are still in a good position in comparison.
Other federal states are increasingly taking out loans and declaring emergencies in order to be able to cover their expenses.
We can get by in Saxony without new debts and will start repaying the corona loans from next year.” Saxony is also co-financing the tax relief packages from the federal government up to and including 2024 with around two billion euros.
“Ultimately, this is tax revenue that we lack elsewhere.
Currently, the high tax revenues and the reserves built up in the past allow us to have a very high level of expenditure.
Whether that can be maintained in the long term must at least be doubted,” said Vorjohann.
He sees the increasing “pre-commitment” of future financial years through current expenses, for example for staff, as particularly problematic.
In order to have more room for maneuver from now on, payments will continue to be made into the generation fund and in this way provisions will be made for future pension costs.
The minister spoke out in favor of replenishing the reserves.
dpa
