Up to 2000 euros tax-free
CDU delivers first concrete proposal for active pensions
September 29, 2023, 3:57 p.m
For several months now, the CDU General Secretary has been suggesting that pensioners should be given the opportunity to continue working tax-free in the future. Now he names a first earning limit. The SPD is sharply critical of the project.
The CDU wants to enable older people to continue working tax-free in their pension up to a limit of 2,000 euros per month. CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann supported the proposal for a corresponding “active pension” on Friday in Berlin by presenting a legal opinion. Anyone who reaches statutory retirement age and continues to work should be able to earn up to 2,000 euros per month tax-free. Linnemann said: “Let’s just try it out for two years.” The CDU is ready to implement the proposal immediately. The proposal should also be reflected in the CDU’s next election program.
According to Linnemann, this is primarily intended to address the increasing shortage of skilled workers. In Germany it is “almost a tradition that you go from 100 to 0, that when you are retired you immediately stop working completely.” According to surveys, many people wanted to voluntarily work longer in the event of tax breaks.
The Augsburg tax lawyer Gregor Kirchhof, who examined the proposal on behalf of the CDU, said: “This proposal leads to a simplification of tax law in old age.” It is also not constitutionally objectionable and can be justified from a tax system perspective. Today, higher tax rates apply if you receive income from work in addition to your pension. The legislature could definitely reduce the double burden of taxing pension provision and income.
An unfair suggestion
Already today, people who reach regular retirement age do not automatically have to retire. You can earn unlimited amounts. Anyone who continues to work receives an additional 0.5 percent on their pension every month. But if the basic allowance of 10,908 euros per year is exceeded due to pension and additional income, these taxes also apply. Linnemann accused the federal government of not making enough effort to find additional employees from Germany in the fight against the shortage of skilled workers and instead relying primarily on skilled immigration.
The SPD in the Bundestag rejected the CDU proposal as unfair. “Anyone, for example, who has done heavy physical work in construction or nursing and is therefore no longer able to work in old age, would be doubly disadvantaged: by deductions due to earlier retirement and because those who are able to work would be given preference through the tax exemption,” said their financial expert Michael Schrodi German press agency. In addition, people with high pensions and high other incomes would particularly benefit.