CDU backs bold tax reform to reshape Germany's fiscal future
Berlin. CDU Secretary General Carsten Linnemann has welcomed a tax reform plan proposed by two conservative lawmakers and expressed openness to raising the top rate for high earners. "This reform would be a breakthrough in the current tax debate," he told Bild. "It would send exactly the right signal that things in Germany are moving in a positive direction."
Linnemann was responding to a proposal by finance policy experts Yannick Bury (CDU) and Florian Dorn (CSU). Under their plan, the top income tax rate of 42% would apply only to earnings above €85,000 gross, the solidarity surcharge would be abolished, and the rate for the wealthiest taxpayers would increase from 45% to 47.5%. The overall relief is expected to total between €25 and €30 billion.
Addressing how the reforms would be funded, Linnemann said: "Anyone who, in this recessionary phase, boldly cuts subsidies while easing the burden on employees, the middle class, and skilled trades will bring Germany renewed growth and confidence."
CDU financial policy spokesman Fritz Güntzler told Bild that the tax proposal was "an excellent basis for discussions with the finance minister." He noted that safeguarding the tax-free subsistence minimum alone would require relief amounting to tens of billions by 2027. Güntzler called on Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) to "present his own tax plan—so we can finally work together on a tax reform." The goal, he said, is to deliver "tangible relief" for workers and businesses by the turn of the year.
Read also:
- American teenagers taking up farming roles previously filled by immigrants, a concept revisited from 1965's labor market shift.
- Weekly affairs in the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag)
- Landslide claims seven lives, injures six individuals while they work to restore a water channel in the northern region of Pakistan
- Escalating conflict in Sudan has prompted the United Nations to announce a critical gender crisis, highlighting the disproportionate impact of the ongoing violence on women and girls.
