SPD Group Leader Matthias Miersch insists that significant financial relief is necessary for lower-income earners, arguing that achieving this requires increasing the wealth tax and raising the top marginal tax rates. Speaking to ARD on Sunday, the SPD politician emphasized that the scale of the relief must be noticeable, stating, “You have to feel it, and it can’t just be about 50 Euros”.
Miersch pointed out that the lower and middle income brackets have been disproportionately affected by the Corona pandemic. Because of this burden, he expressed skepticism regarding the idea of financing reforms by hiking the value-added tax (VAT), warning that such a measure would disproportionately affect low earners again.
While acknowledging the approach of blanket subsidy reductions proposed by CDU Group Leader Jens Spahn, Miersch cautioned against such sweeping cuts. According to the SPD politician, these reductions would also negatively impact the crucial funding for social housing construction and fundamental research. He stressed that broad austerity measures risk cutting “elemental things that might be very important”.
