2024-07-15 10:53:53
Family Minister Paus wants to end the splitting of income between spouses – and in doing so praises the tax class reform of Finance Minister Lindner. He has now made it clear: With the splitting of income between spouses, everything will stay as it is.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) reacted with irritation to statements by Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens), who sees the reform of the tax brackets as a “starting point towards the abolition of the spousal splitting”. Lindner told t-online: “Ms Paus’ statement is puzzling, because the spousal splitting will definitely not be abolished. On the contrary, the reform of the tax bracket is the alternative to the abolition of the spousal splitting.”
The reform ensures that the tax is “fairly distributed between the spouses” and that additional tax payments are avoided. “Unfortunately, it is often women who appear to bear a disproportionate tax burden,” he said.
“Abolishing the splitting advantage, on the other hand, would be a tax increase for people who take responsibility for each other,” Lindner continued. “Ms Paus’s statements are therefore a premonition of what the Greens are planning to do to the working population. As Finance Minister, I will prevent that.”
Paus had previously told the “Bild” newspaper that a “farewell to the outdated instrument of spousal splitting” was “overdue”. It only favours the “classic marriage”, although diverse life models have long been a social reality.
There have been repeated discussions about the splitting of income between spouses for years. The procedure involves halving the joint income of a couple, calculating the income tax due on it and then doubling the tax liability. This is particularly beneficial for couples where one earns a lot and the other earns a little. The reason given for this is that it provides special protection for marriage and family.
With the draft of a second annual tax law 2024, Lindner recently initiated a reform of tax classes. This provides that instead of tax classes 3 and 5, the so-called factor method in tax class 4 should be used in the future. This will distribute the wage tax burden more fairly between spouses and life partners, according to the draft law. The SPD, Greens and FDP had already agreed on the step in their coalition agreement.