Vice Chairwoman of the SPD parliamentary group, Wiebke Esdar, criticized the funding concept proposed by Christian Union fiscal politicians Florian Dorn (CSU) and Yannick Bury (CDU). Speaking to the broadcaster “Welt” on Thursday, Esdar stated that she did not find the concept to be seriously underfunded. She commented, “I do not want to fool anyone. I cannot see where the socially fair compensation funding is supposed to come from”.
The proposed scrapping of the Solidarity Surcharge also displeased the deputy chairwoman of the SPD parliamentary group. According to Esdar, “In order to present a constitutionally compliant budget, we have to make savings proposals. And looking at the concept presented by the two CDU/CSU parliamentarians, it has a trick. Those are 30 billion euros in additional costs, and they cannot seriously explain how they are to be financed”. She concluded, “And so, there is still quite a bit of work ahead of us”.
She stressed the importance of making the tax relief noticeable and substantial for low and middle incomes. However, she argued that “you have to say how you are going to finance it. Simply staying vague will not work in the end”. Esdar called the paper, “if you are honest, a bit of a smokescreen through the back door”.
Furthermore, the reduction of the Solidarity Surcharge proposed by the CDU/CSU parliamentarians was considered neither socially fair nor viable. “If we are serious about relieving low and middle incomes, and we take this very seriously, you cannot simply eliminate the Solidarity Surcharge, which only the top 10 percent of incomes pay anyway. Then the strong shoulders must carry more”.
Lastly, Esdar objected to relying solely on the planned increase in the rich tax. She insisted that a portion of the highest tax earners must contribute more. As a member of the Bundestag, she stated clearly, “I want us parliamentarians who have a high income to contribute more at the end of this income tax reform”. She believe that “at least in the end, the particularly high incomes must contribute more”. Esdar added that determining specific percentage rates for different income brackets would be the next logical step.
