Steer
Scholz relativizes Klingbeil’s approach to spouse splitting
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) spoke to citizens in Füssen. photo
© Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil uses the debate about cuts in parental benefits to bring up an old idea. It is not only in the coalition that this causes discussions.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has the push of his party leader Lars Klingbeil for an abolition of the marriage splitting.
Spouse splitting is the legal situation in Germany, but “of course there are always discussions as to whether it is disproportionate, especially for those who earn a few hundred thousand euros a year,” said Scholz at a citizens’ dialogue in Füssen, Bavaria, when asked about the proposed abolition. “But for average earners, nobody intends to propose a worsening of the tax burden now. I think that’s always very important for classifying the discussion.”
Steinbrück criticizes the advance
The SPD politician and former Federal Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück previously criticized the initiative of his party leader Lars Klingbeil to abolish the marriage splitting. “You don’t just let a hot-air balloon start without carefully considering the issues involved,” said Steinbrück on Wednesday on the ARD program “Maischberger”.
This is linked to “very fundamental constitutional issues”. “Even if the focus should only be on the burden on new marriages. That in turn affects a principle of equality and would also burden new marriages with considerable additional tax expenditure.”
Klingbeil speaks of “antiquated tax model”
In an interview, Klingbeil had proposed the abolition of spouse splitting for newly concluded marriages instead of the planned savings in parental allowance. From his point of view, it would be good to put an end to this “antiquated tax model, which favors the classic division of roles between men and women”. The coalition partner FDP strictly rejected the proposal.
With spouse splitting, the joint income of a couple is halved, the income tax due is calculated and the tax liability is then doubled. This is particularly useful for couples where one earns a lot and the other a little. The marriage splitting was only written into the Income Tax Act in 1958 at the instigation of the Federal Constitutional Court. Germany is often criticized for the regulation by the OECD and the EU Commission – with the argument that it keeps women out of the labor market.
“Economy”: Splitting reduces incentives
The “economist” Achim Truger sees it similarly. He told the “Rheinische Post” that the splitting reduces “due to a high tax limit for second earners – mostly women – the incentives to take up gainful employment and to increase the number of hours”. “Estimates come to 200,000 full-time jobs, in some cases significantly more, by which employment will be reduced by the split,” explained the member of the Advisory Council on the assessment of overall economic development.
According to Truger, the split disadvantages women who would be pushed into mini or part-time jobs. In his view, a reform is therefore overdue. However, for constitutional reasons, splitting cannot be abolished. A reform model is real splitting, in which a tax-free allowance can be transferred between spouses to reduce taxes.
“In the medium term, realistic reform variants could result in additional revenue of between 5 and 15 billion euros per year, which would largely be borne by the top 20 percent of the income distribution,” Truger continued. This money could be used for tax relief or to support families with children, for example through basic child security, or to expand childcare.