The Greens accuse Federal Minister of Finance Lars Klingbeil (SPD) of misleading millions of low-income earners during discussions about tax reductions. Katharina Beck, the Greens’ parliamentary spokesperson for finance policy, told the publication that Klingbeil is “telling millions of people with low incomes lies,” arguing that his policies effectively cannot provide them with tax relief since 20 to 30 percent of workers fall below the income tax threshold. According to Beck, his billion-euro packages only benefit the middle class, meaning that many individuals in the lowest income brackets receive either no relief or very little.
Beck subsequently called upon Klingbeil and the government to lower social contributions instead. She stated that “the best tool for relief is lowering social contributions,” and proposed cutting health insurance contributions by two percentage points. She explained that this measure would have a dual positive effect: it would genuinely benefit low-wage workers while simultaneously reducing supplementary labor costs for businesses.
