tax policy
Traffic light coalition bickers over growth opportunities law
The draft of the “Growth Opportunities Act” by Federal Finance Minister Lindner could not be launched in the cabinet because Family Minister Lisa Paus vetoed it. photo
© Britta Pedersen/dpa
Actually, the Growth Opportunities Act with simplifications for companies should go through the cabinet on Wednesday. Now a tangible coalition crash is imminent. And the FDP is raging.
The summer break in political Berlin is hardly over when there is already a bang in the Federal government: After a blockade in the cabinet, the dispute over the planned tax breaks for companies is now to be clarified at the cabinet meeting in Meseberg at the end of August. There the cabinet will deal with his ministry’s draft law, Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) told the German Press Agency on Wednesday. “It is regrettable that a cabinet decision was not possible today, despite the agreement with the Federal Ministry of Economics,” emphasized Lindner.
The federal government is arguing about the draft law with almost 50 tax policy measures that are intended to relieve the economy by around 6.5 billion euros a year. “Germany needs growth again,” said Lindner. The structural conditions for the German economy must be improved and investments made more attractive. “Everyone should know that all social spending needs a strong economic foundation,” said the finance minister. “Even families with children need good jobs.”
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai spoke of a “missed opportunity for Germany as a business location, which the Greens are responsible for”. After Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) had already signaled his approval of the law, Green Family Minister Lisa Paus prevented companies in Germany from being relieved and the economy being put back on track.
Two issues connected
According to dpa information, Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens) had linked the topic to basic child security, which had been crunching at traffic lights for a long time. The Federal Government intends to introduce them before the end of this legislative period. This should make it easier for families to access state benefits. If all eligible families receive benefits to which they are entitled, it will cost more money. This is largely undisputed. In addition, however, the Greens in particular want to push through in the traffic light that benefits are also increased in order to do more against child poverty in the country.
“Lisa Paus does not seem to have understood the core of every welfare state: first you have to earn what can be distributed,” criticized the deputy FDP federal chairman Johannes Vogel. “And now we have to take care of the generation and competitiveness again.”
The Parliamentary Secretary of the Greens parliamentary group, Irene Mihalic, supported Paus. “Although the Growth Opportunities Act provides a few good economic stimuli, these are too small compared to the burden on public budgets,” she told the editorial network Germany (RND). “But if there is money for it, then there must also be money for those who need it most. Lisa Paus is quite right about that.”