BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner considers sticking to the debt brake and not raising taxes to be elementary for the existence of the traffic light coalition. “If we were forced to suspend the debt brake or to increase taxes, then the question of a coalition would arise. But nobody does that,” said the FDP leader on Sunday in the ZDF “summer interview” in Berlin.
When asked whether both points are a red line for him, Lindner replies: “It’s in the coalition agreement. And in view of the economic development it would be really unwise if we were to increase the tax burden.” The companies suffered from the high energy prices, they had to go down. For example, he himself is open to lowering the electricity tax. “But instead of making progress there, we’re discussing tax increases. That couldn’t be done with the FDP.”
But with a view to tax increases and the debt brake, he said: “Nobody actually intends to do that.” There are public statements by the SPD and the Greens here. “But I can’t see that there are serious attempts to deviate from our stipulations in the coalition agreement. So that’s theory,” emphasized the FDP chairman.
The debt brake anchored in the Basic Law stipulates that the budgets of the federal and state governments are to be balanced without income from loans. There is, however, a leeway that for the federal government amounts to a maximum of 0.35 percent of gross domestic product. In the event of natural disasters or other emergencies, the debt brake can be suspended, which happened in 2020 and 2021 because of the corona pandemic.
For him, the right way is to fight inflation, which is currently the greatest danger. If the European Central Bank were to raise interest rates in this context, “it would be foolish, economically wrong, we would use policy on pump subsidies to counteract this.” This would prolong the fight against inflation and make it more expensive, “the damage would be much greater”.
At the same time, the FDP leader spoke out in favor of a radical renunciation of more and more bureaucratic laws. “I cannot imagine that before the German economy has picked up speed, we will decide on any additional bureaucratic or financial obligations,” he said. In this context, there are “parts of the coalition agreement that are actually out of date”. Here “everyone should have an understanding that we can only pick up traction again economically, so to speak, before there can be new burdens”./bk/DP/he