Economic experts and the OECD agree
“Spousal splitting reform would alleviate the shortage of skilled workers”
07/13/2023 11:42 am
Spouse splitting is particularly useful for couples where one earns a lot and the other a little. This keeps women in particular from working longer hours, says economist Achim Truger, as does the OECD. A reform would kill two birds with one stone.
The economist Achim Truger expects a reform of the spouse splitting with a significant reduction in the shortage of skilled workers. The current regulation reduces the incentives to take up gainful employment and to increase the number of hours due to a “high tax limit for second earners – mostly women”, said Truger of the “Rheinische Post”. Estimates come to 200,000 full-time jobs, “in some cases significantly more”, by which employment is currently being reduced as a result of the split.
In addition, women would thereby acquire fewer entitlements in social insurance and became economically dependent on their partner. In the event of a separation, they would often be at a disadvantage, said Truger. “A reform of the marriage splitting is therefore overdue from my point of view.”
The industrialized nations organization OECD also sees a suitable recipe against the shortage of skilled workers in a reform of the controversial spouse splitting. “In an international comparison, the incentives for second earners to work more in Germany are low, also because of the spouse splitting,” said the head of the OECD Berlin Center, Nicola Brandt, of the news agency Reuters. Experiences with the abolition in Sweden in the early 1970s and model studies by German economic research institutes showed that a reform could significantly increase full-time employment among women.
“Reform could serve gender equality”
“This means that a reform could be an effective means of combating the shortage of skilled workers and at the same time serve gender equality in paid and unpaid work,” said Brandt. “This is particularly true if this goes hand in hand with a further expansion of high-quality childcare, or an extension of the paternity months for parental allowance.”
With spouse splitting, the income of both spouses is added together and then halved. For this value, income tax is calculated, and then doubled – this is the tax burden of the married couple. Spouse splitting is particularly advantageous for couples whose incomes differ widely. Most recently, a push by SPD leader Lars Klingbeil to abolish spouse splitting caused discussions.
For constitutional reasons, splitting cannot be completely abolished, Truger told the Rheinische Post. However, a reform model could be real splitting, in which a tax-free allowance can be transferred between spouses to reduce taxes. In the medium term, additional income of between 5 and 15 billion euros per year is conceivable, which would largely be borne by the top 20 percent of the income distribution.