BSW chairwoman Sahra Wagenknecht has sharply criticized the federal government’s tax plans. “What the coalition is planning is to usurp tax policy into the family purse,” Wagenknecht told the Berliner Zeitung. “If citizens know one thing after almost three years, it is that Christian Lindner is not a minister of relief for ordinary citizens.”
With the draft of the second annual tax law for 2024, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) has introduced a reform of the tax classes. In their coalition agreement, the SPD, the Greens and the FDP agreed that instead of tax classes 3 and 5, the so-called factor method should be used in tax class 4 in future. According to the draft law, this is intended to distribute the income tax burden more fairly between spouses and life partners.
Good morning Berlin
News bulletin
Thank you for signing up.
You will receive a confirmation by email.
Lisa Pause wants to end spousal split
However, the issue is now causing controversy in the federal government as well. According to Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens), with the planned reform of the tax brackets, the federal government is paving the way for the abolition of spousal splitting. “The farewell to the old instrument of spousal splitting is long overdue,” Paus told Bild newspaper. “This is an instrument that only gives tax advantages over traditional marriage. And this is despite the fact that diverse family models have long been part of our social reality.
However, the Finance Ministry immediately refuted Pause’s statements: the splitting process will remain in place. “Abolishing the splitting benefit will lead to an increase in taxes for those who take on each other’s responsibilities,” Christian Lindner told the T-Online portal.
“The main purpose of the alleged reform of the tax brackets is to fill the cash-strapped coffers of the federal government,” Wagenknecht told the Berliner Zeitung. “The fact that Family Minister Paus sees this as a springboard to get rid of the husband-wife division altogether after years of historical burdens on families is outrageous. Ordinary families in this country are burdened with taxes and duties more than anywhere else in the world.”
Anyone who wants to significantly reduce taxes for foreign skilled workers, but raise taxes for families under the pretext of equal rights, is causing justified anger, not justice, says coalition chairwoman Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW). “The traffic light plans not only seek to educate families on how they should share work, but also cause a huge loss for millions of people on a monthly basis.” Her party “strongly rejects a lower net gross income for those with normal incomes.”
The CSU sees “an attack against the center of society”
Separation between spouses has been discussed for years. In the process, the couple’s combined income is mathematically halved, resulting in a doubling of the tax liability when income tax is calculated. Especially couples, where one earns a lot and the other a little, benefit from this in terms of taxes. This is justified by the special protection of marriage and family.