Financial policy
Top tax rate: Lindner rejects CDU proposal
Finance Minister Christian Lindner during the ARD summer interview. photo
© Fabian Sommer/dpa
The CDU is pushing for a tax reform to relieve the burden on medium-sized businesses. To do this, she also wants to accept an increase in the top tax rate.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner has it CDU proposal for a reform of the top tax rate clearly rejected. CDU leader Friedrich Merz discussed at the weekend that the top tax rate only applies to higher incomes and could therefore be increased.
“Mr. Merz’s calculations don’t add up,” said FDP leader Lindner in the ARD “Report from Berlin”. The finance minister calculated that the top tax rate would have to be increased from the current 42 percent to 57 percent if it only applied to incomes above 80,000 euros. It currently applies to an income of 63,000 euros.
“That would really strangulate our economic development,” said Lindner. “And by the way, it would also be unfair: having to give more of what you work to the state than you are allowed to keep has nothing to do with a social market economy.”
CDU calls for relief for the middle class
CDU leader Friedrich Merz told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung”: “Even people who earn just a little more than the average experience an enormous burden of duties and taxes. We have to flatten the burden curve, because performance has to be worth it. Whether The top tax rate is then 42 or 45 percent is not crucial.” It is important to relieve the burden on the middle class.
CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann also told the German Press Agency that it was simply not fair that the middle class paid the top tax rate. “Fueled by high inflation rates, tax fairness in Germany is in trouble. The central element of this tax reform must be broad relief for the middle of this country.”
Germany “urgently” needs a major tax reform. To do this, the so-called middle class belly must first be flattened. The top tax rate should take effect much later than around 63,000 euros. If it were only raised at 80,000, 90,000 or 100,000 euros, there would be relief for the broad middle of this country, said Linnemann.
Top tax rate and rich tax rate
Then it doesn’t matter whether the so-called “tax rate for the rich” is 45 percent or 46 percent or 47 percent. But the tax rate for the rich is different than the top tax rate. It is 45 percent and applies to taxable income of around 280,000 euros.
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert also spoke out in favor of reforming the top tax rate: “The SPD is fighting to reform the income tax in a revenue-neutral way. We want to relieve the burden on 95 percent of the country’s employees and in return moderately increase the top tax rate for the top five percent. The The top tax rate would therefore only apply to significantly higher incomes than is currently the case,” he told the “Tagesspiegel”.