These tax increases threaten citizens through the cold progression

Berlin It wasn’t good news for Christian Lindner at the beginning of the year. Ironically, under the liberal Federal Minister of Finance, the tax burden rose slightly.

Because the previous government underestimated inflation and the traffic light government did not correct this, many taxpayers had to pay a little more to the tax authorities due to the unfortunate combination of inflation and tax rates. When the Handelsblatt published a corresponding report, there was a hangover in the Federal Ministry of Finance.

But compared to what could happen to Lindner this year and next, the tax increase of just under one billion euros at the beginning of the year seems downright tiny. Because inflation keeps climbing to new highs, the so-called creeping tax hikes will hit even harder and the federal finance minister plunge into a dilemma: either he accepts a significant loss of income himself or he places heavy burdens on the citizens. This is shown by calculations by the German Economic Institute (IW). They are available to the Handelsblatt.