Carsten Linnemann, the CDU’s general secretary, criticized the SPD’s proposal to levy a health‑tax on rental and capital income, arguing that it would jeopardize the financial security of small savers. “If you ask me personally, I would not target the small and medium savers now. They need planning certainty” he said in an interview on the ARD programme “Bericht aus Berlin” on Sunday. “We say: invest for your retirement – whether that’s in a rental apartment or another investment – and then, in the end, we take away that certainty by imposing an additional contribution. That is unacceptable”.
Earlier in the same episode, SPD leader Lars Klingbeil had defended the idea that capital income should also help finance the health system, calling it fair. Linnemann countered by proposing instead to eliminate insurance‑dependent benefits, such as the co‑insurance of basic security recipients. “The fact that people who are insured for basic security recipients have to pay a two‑digit billions of euros a year-10, 12, or 13 billion euros-while basic security recipients themselves contribute nothing is untenable” he emphasized.
Linnemann said that the debate surrounding these reforms had not hurt his party’s campaign prospects in Baden‑Württemberg and Rhineland‑Palatinate. “Things are going well at the moment. A few days ago, the discussion became emotional” he noted. He added that the chosen terms had initially been inappropriate for the core of the debate, leading to polarization and emotional responses. “That made people feel under suspicion” he remarked.
According to Linnemann, the decisive factor for voters remains the “economic” issue. Even though business orders are improving and more companies are being founded, the economic situation is still challenging.
