BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – Despite the budget crisis, the federal government wants to provide tax relief for citizens by a total of 15 billion euros next year, according to Finance Minister Christian Lindner. The FDP politician told “Bild” (Wednesday) that the working middle class in Germany deserves relief. “It cannot be the case that only social transfers are increased during inflation. Next year we will reduce the wage and income tax burden on working people by 15 billion euros.” For the second time in a row, the government is significantly reducing the tax burden.
The federal government wants to increase the basic tax allowance and the child allowance. The basic allowance is the part of the income up to which no income tax has to be paid. According to media reports, it will rise from 10,908 to 11,784 euros. For families, the child allowance is to be increased from 6,024 to 6,612 euros. The increase is so significant because citizens’ money is also increasing due to high inflation. According to Lindner’s argument, a correspondingly higher amount of income must remain tax-free.
The coalition partners of the SPD, Greens and FDP are fighting over the budget for 2024. According to Lindner, around 17 billion euros are missing from the federal budget for the coming year after the Federal Constitutional Court’s ruling three weeks ago. The highest German court had declared the reallocation of 60 billion euros to be null and void./tam/DP/zb