Reiner Holznagel, president of Germany’s taxpayers’ federation, criticized a proposal from the Institute for German Economic Research (DIW) to raise the top income‑tax rate from 42 % to 49 %. He said a reform of the income‑tax scale is overdue, but he opposed the simultaneous increase while the rate would only apply to very high earners.
Holznagel told the papers of the Funke media group that delaying the top rate until €80,000 income-what the national government wants-or until €90,000, as the DIW suggests, is a step in the right direction. However, upping the rate from 42 % to 49 % at the same time would reverse progress and, in his words, “would finally kill the German economy”. He also warned the party should not settle for “lazy compromises”.
The DIW’s idea had, to some extent, found support in the party’s parliamentary group.
