Berlin The meeting between Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the Prime Minister ended as usual for such rounds: with a money commitment from the federal government to the states. Whether for the new “Deutschlandticket”, local public transport or the accommodation of refugees – Finance Minister Christian Lindner will have to transfer several billion euros to his country colleagues.
That is the price that the federal states have to pay for the relief packages of the traffic light coalition. In the energy sector, too, the federal government will bear the majority of the costs. The gigantic 200 billion euros in special debts that the federal government is taking on to subsidize gas and electricity prices in particular make this clear.
>> Read here: Scholz and Prime Minister agree on cost sharing
The fact that the federal states were able to squeeze out billions more is hardly relevant. All the same, there are no new structural financial shifts. When it comes to housing benefit, the federal government has remained firm. Even after the planned expansion, the federal and state governments will share the costs.
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After the agreement, however, the federal states should now support all planned relief if possible, in particular the compensation for “cold progression” planned by Lindner. Reimbursing the inflation-related additional revenue is not only appropriate. The state can also afford this.
>> Read here: Cold progression burdens taxpayers with more than 41 billion euros
A short time ago, the federal states called for a state of emergency to be declared so that they could suspend the debt brake, but now nothing was heard of this demand. No wonder: the latest tax estimate also predicted significant additional income for the federal states despite the crisis.
It would be difficult to justify a budget emergency. Rather, it shows that the federal states have sufficient funds to shoulder their share of the relief packages.
More: “Organized highway robbery” – the states are getting more and more money from the federal government