2023-08-15 17:20:58
Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens)
Paus is again demanding more money for basic child security.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin In the traffic light, a new dispute has broken out about the planned tax breaks for companies. The Green-led Federal Ministry for Family Affairs has lodged a management reservation against the so-called “Growth Opportunities Act” by Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP), as the Handelsblatt learned from several government representatives. The law is to be passed by the Federal Cabinet on Wednesday.
Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens) vetoed the plan because she considered the planned relief volume of around six billion euros for the economy to be too high if Lindner was not willing to provide more money for basic child security, government circles said.
Lindner and Paus have been arguing for months about how much the introduction of basic child security should cost. While Paus estimates the costs at twelve billion euros, Lindner initially only reserved two billion euros in his financial planning for the reform, which is to come into force in 2025.
In addition to the basic child security, there are other changes to the tax package shortly before the cabinet meeting. The planned loss carryback, which allows companies to offset current losses against past profits for tax purposes, is smaller than originally planned under pressure from the SPD and the Greens.
The two parties reject Lindner’s proposal to extend the loss carryback because it would mean a flat-rate tax cut for companies and would lead to a loss of revenue for the municipalities. Financial politicians from both groups said that municipalities had recently sounded the alarm with them.
For the same reasons, the so-called retention benefit is to be reduced compared to the original plan. It regulates the tax treatment of retained profits from partnerships and is intended to ensure that these are treated in the same way as corporations.
Habeck has already signaled approval
However, the regulation is considered to be extremely complicated, which is why the economy has been pushing for a reform for years. This should now be a little smaller than planned.
On the other hand, the package will contain declining balance depreciation on movable assets, which Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) has been pushing for, while his own parliamentary group is rather critical of this relief. As a result, the total relief volume could ultimately exceed the originally calculated six billion euros, according to the government representatives.
Internally, the Federal Ministry of Economics is said to have already approved the package. Government circles were all the more astonished at the veto from the Green Family Ministry.
>> Read here: Higher investment premium? Ampel argues about new financing methods for tax relief
“It would be really absurd if the family minister could block a law that business is urgently awaiting and that her own business minister has already approved internally,” said a government official. The Greens obviously need some clarification internally. Another government official also warned that money for social welfare “should not be set off against funds that maintain our economic strength”.
The three traffic light parties had actually planned to leave their long-standing dispute behind after the summer break and start again. A whole bundle of laws that is in the Federal Cabinet this Wednesday should be the beginning.
Lindner had priced in changes, but not that
At the heart of this is Finance Minister Lindner’s “Growth Opportunities Act”. The head of the FDP has already booked a room at the federal press conference to present the laws to the public as broadly as possible. If the traffic lights don’t come to an agreement, it would be another false start.
It was always clear that the SPD and the Greens wanted to give Lindner’s legislative package a different weighting. The Chancellery and the Federal Ministry of Economics considered the planned volume for the “investment bonus”, which is intended to encourage investments in the “energy and resource efficiency of a company”, to be too low, while the planned loss carryback was too extensive.
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Finance Minister Lindner had also priced in in advance that there could still be changes within the law – but he probably did not expect Family Minister Paus to try to mix the tax package with her basic child security.
On Tuesday afternoon, despite the new dispute, everyone involved expected the law to be in the cabinet as planned on Wednesday. “Anything else,” said a government official, “would look unfortunate for the coalition. Ms. Paus knows that too.”
More: Growth Opportunities Act: This is how Lindner wants to relieve companies
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