Berlin The FDP wants to underpin its rejection of any tax increases. The party executive wants to decide on a corresponding emergency application for the upcoming federal party conference on Thursday. The draft of the application for financial and budgetary policy is available to the Handelsblatt.
In the four-page paper, the party leadership speaks out against additional burdens for citizens and companies and instead advocates savings in the federal budget. “In view of historically high taxes and duties, tax increases cannot be an option,” it says. Germany is already a “maximum tax country”.
In the application, FDP leader Christian Lindner and the Liberals point out that, according to estimates, the revenue of the federal, state and local governments will exceed the one trillion euro mark in the coming year. “This state has no income problem,” writes the FDP leadership. “Demands for tax increases, new taxes or one-sided additional burdens are therefore incomprehensible.”
The application is to be decided at the federal party conference of the Liberals, which begins on Friday in Berlin. With such a positioning, the FDP not only distinguishes itself from the traffic light partners SPD and Greens, but also from the CDU. The Christian Demo cards are currently repositioning themselves in tax policy. When working on the new basic program, the CDU is discussing raising the tax rate for top earners in order to finance relief for the middle class.
>> Read here: CDU wants higher taxes for top earners
The FDP rejects such considerations. Although it is right to relieve the middle class, this should not be done by burdening others. “A reduction in the middle class belly through tax increases elsewhere would lead to tax rates of up to 57 percent for incomes of 80,000 euros or more,” says the application. “This would endanger jobs, discourage skilled workers and drive family businesses to other locations.”
Instead, relief is needed that increases the attractiveness of Germany as a business location. The paper mentions better depreciation options for companies and an investment premium. The Federal Ministry of Finance is already working on corresponding proposals.
>> Read also: Lindner is working on new tax relief for companies
FDP accuses Union of mistakes: “misguided subsidies, oversized social benefits, unnecessary debt”
The FDP does not only criticize the CDU in tax policy. The Liberals also blame the Union for the tense situation in the federal budget. “The decisions of the former Union-led federal governments now weigh particularly heavily,” says the draft application. The times of economic growth and low interest rates were not used to invest.
The FDP refers to the poor state of the Bundeswehr and deficits in education. “Instead of investing in the future of the country, misguided subsidies were introduced under the leadership of the Union, oversized social benefits were decided and unnecessary debt was incurred,” criticize the liberals in their motion.
However, the paper also contains reminders to the traffic light partners. Compliance with the debt brake is presented in the application as non-negotiable. “Therefore, we oppose all attempts to circumvent the debt brake, as is currently being demanded from our coalition partners,” it said.
>> Read here: Lindner feels confirmed in the budget dispute by the IMF
Instead of new debts or tax increases, the liberals are focusing on budget cuts. It is necessary to “fundamentally examine expenditures for their necessity and profitability”. The effectiveness of subsidies and social benefits should be evaluated for their accuracy.
“No room for expansion”
From the point of view of the FDP, traffic light projects may also have to be postponed if they cannot be financed due to the tight budget situation. “The projects of the coalition must also be considered strictly in the light of the financial possibilities and prioritized more strongly on the timeline,” says the application.
The FDP also demands spending discipline in social security. “In the current phase, there is no room for additional service expansions,” the paper says. She rejects higher tax subsidies from the federal budget. Otherwise there is a risk that the state will be overburdened.
The liberals refer to the unfavorable demographic development: More and more pensioners face fewer and fewer workers. This puts the statutory pension, health and long-term care insurance under pressure. “This challenge was exacerbated by the extensive expansion of services under the CDU chancellorship,” the FDP complained in its application.
Corona reconstruction fund should remain the exception
In the paper, the liberals also position themselves in European politics. You are open to a reform of the Stability and Growth Pact, but at the same time emphasize that the debt rules must not be relaxed. “While there must be enough freedom for future investments, the rules must also ensure a realistic and ambitious reduction in deficits and debt,” it says.
>> Read here: Reform of the EU debt rules: EU Commission lets Lindner down
The FDP sees the Corona reconstruction fund, for which the EU was allowed to incur debt, as a one-off exception. He should not “be a door opener for the road to a debt union”. In addition, there is no need for new EU programs. According to the FDP, there are still enough unused funds in the reconstruction fund.
Therefore, from the point of view of the liberals, no program is necessary to react to the climate subsidies of the US government with its “Inflation Reduction Act”. “A subsidy race would not only be wrong in terms of regulatory and trade policy,” says the application. “There is also no lack of available investment funds at the European level.”
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