More help for the industry
Habeck considers Lindner’s tax plans to be inadequate
08/01/2023, 11:30 a.m
Finance Minister Lindner wants to relieve the economy with a tax package of around six billion euros a year. “A delicate beginning for what we need, but it’s just not enough,” criticizes coalition colleague Habeck. The Economics Minister calls for a triad of industrial measures.
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck is demanding greater relief for the economy from Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner. “The Finance Minister’s proposals in the draft of the Growth Opportunities Act are a delicate start to what we need, but it’s just not enough,” criticized the Green politician in the “Handelsblatt”. He called for a triad of measures to help German industry in the currently tense economic situation: targeted support for investments, tax depreciation and, for a transitional period, an industrial electricity price.
FDP boss Lindner wants to relieve the economy with a tax package of around six billion euros a year. The Growth Opportunities Act is intended to strengthen Germany’s competitiveness and ensure more investment, according to the Ministry of Finance in mid-July. Overall, Lindner proposes almost 50 tax policy measures. The core element is a bonus for investments in climate protection announced in the coalition agreement. The draft has not yet been approved by the government.
Habeck considers the relief to be too low. “We need a real stimulus for growth, prosperity and the competitiveness of Germany as a business location, because our global competitors are not asleep,” he says in the “Handelsblatt”. According to the newspaper, the Federal Ministry of Economics has lodged a protest in the internal government vote because it does not consider the proposals of the Ministry of Finance to be far-reaching enough.
Habeck has proposed a state-subsidized lower industrial electricity price. The FDP rejects this. Leading organizations of the German economy call for fundamental relief. The German economy is in a slump.