Anke Rehlinger, the Saarland Minister‑President and a member of the Social Democratic Party, voices skepticism about a proposed rise in value‑added tax. “I feel a strong unease about this. It would make life even more expensive for everyone than it already is” she told the daily “Handelsblatt”. She says she would rather relieve 95 % of taxpayers from income‑tax burdens while increasing rates for the very top earners.
Berlin is currently debating internally whether to lift the standard VAT rate from 19 % to 21 %. If that happens, the government could offset it by easing the 7 % reduced rate and by cutting taxes and social‑security contributions on earned income. Rehlinger, however, sees the Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil’s proposal to abolish the married‑couple splitting system as fundamentally sound. She stressed that “those who benefit from the split today should be allowed to keep it”.
To bolster revenues, Rehlinger supports raising the inheritance tax. “It is unfair that someone inheriting a few hundred thousand pays a substantially higher percentage in taxes than someone inheriting several million. Changing that would be enforcing tax compliance, not a tax increase” she said. The SPD plans to outline its reform agenda for the coming months at a conference this Friday.
