Status: 11/25/2022 2:12 p.m
In addition to the citizens’ allowance, the Federal Council has approved other laws: the way is clear for the housing benefit reform, tax breaks and the limited continued operation of the three nuclear power plants. The law on triage can also come.
Housing benefit reform approved
Hundreds of thousands of additional households in Germany will be able to receive housing benefit for the first time from next January. The Federal Council approved the reform – despite clear criticism of the high additional workload for the administration and the short changeover time. So far, 600,000 households have received this state subsidy for their rent. With the housing benefit reform, up to 1.4 million more will be entitled to do so. The housing allowance is also to be increased by an average of 190 euros per month. This means that in future the subscribers will receive an average of around 370 euros per month.
Households that do not receive social benefits but still have little money can apply for housing benefit. In the future, people who earn the minimum wage or have a pension of a comparable amount should also be able to benefit from housing benefit.
Inflation compensation and child benefit
The Federal Council has given the go-ahead for inflation compensation in income tax. This ensures that the state will not also benefit from the high prices in the coming year. The so-called cold progression, a kind of secret tax increase caused by inflation, is offset. The federal, state and local governments will thus forgo tax revenue of 18.6 billion euros in 2023.
The basic allowance, i.e. the income up to which no tax has to be paid, increases by 561 euros to 10,908 euros. The top tax rate of 42 percent, which currently applies from a taxable income of 58,597 euros, will only be due in the coming year from 62,827 euros. The federal government is deliberately not touching the limit for the even higher tax rate for the wealthy of 45 percent because it does not believe that additional relief is necessary in this income bracket.
At the same time, the Federal Council decided to increase child benefit again. In the future, the support for families will be a uniform amount of 250 euros per month and child. That means a plus of 31 euros for the first and second child and a plus of 25 euros per month for the third child.
Landlords have to pay the CO2 tax
Tenants are financially relieved of the climate tax for heating. So far, they have had to pay the so-called CO2 tax on their own, but in future the landlords will be involved. The corresponding law has now passed the Federal Council.
The benchmark will be the energetic quality of the respective building. The worse this is, the higher the proportion of landlords. In the case of particularly high-emission buildings, these must bear up to 95 percent of the CO2 tax. The law is scheduled to come into force on January 1st.
Continued operation of the three nuclear power plants decided
The decision has now also been made to continue operating the last three German nuclear power plants until April 15 next year. The Federal Council refrained from appealing to the mediation committee for this law. With that, it can come into effect.
The Bundestag had already approved the law in mid-November. The Isar 2, Neckarwestheim 2 and Emsland kilns are to remain in operation for a few months longer in order to secure the power supply this winter. In the course of the nuclear phase-out, they should actually have been switched off at the end of the year. There had been a heated argument within the federal government, especially between the Greens and the FDP, about a possible further use of the three power plants. In the end, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) spoke a word of power.
Triage Act
When allocating scarce hospital beds in a pandemic, only the short-term probability of survival should be decisive for the decision in the future. The Federal Council passed the so-called Triage Act, which is intended to protect people with disabilities from discrimination. Discrimination based on disability, age, gender or origin is expressly prohibited in the law. However, disability associations do not consider it sufficient.
The Bundestag passed the law two weeks ago after a long struggle. However, there were also individual dissenting votes from the coalition of SPD, Greens and FPD.
Citizens’ income is introduced
After the Bundestag, the Bundesrat also approved the citizens’ allowance, which is intended to replace the previous Hartz IV system. On January 1st, basic security payments will increase by more than 50 euros. Single people will receive 502 euros in the future.
Significant parts of the reform will come into force on July 1st. The job centers should be able to take better care of the unemployed. The placement in permanent work instead of simple helper jobs should be better than before. To this end, those affected should be given further qualifications to a greater extent or begin training or retraining. Many so-called instructions on legal consequences are to be deleted. In addition, recipients of basic security will be able to earn more in future – for example with a mini-job.