Economy Spouse splitting
The next argument breaks out at the traffic light
As of: 8:23 p.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
“I am in favor of higher income shouldering more and more responsibility,” said SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil
Source: dpa
The SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil calls for the abolition of spouse splitting. Criticism hailed from the FDP. The Ministry of Finance, led by Christian Lindner, speaks of a “gigantic additional burden” for couples and families.
Christian Lindner’s Ministry of Finance reacted to the SPD initiative with strict rejection, instead of cutting parental benefits and abolishing tax advantages through spouse splitting. “The abolition of spouse splitting would be a gigantic additional burden for mainstream society. The abolition would burden families and couples with an additional 25 billion euros a year,” said the ministry of the FDP chairman. Such a tax increase is excluded by the coalition agreement of the traffic light parties. There is no majority for that.
The SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil had previously called for the rapid abolition of the tax benefits through spouse splitting for all new marriages. “I am in favor of higher income shouldering more and more responsibility,” said the SPD chairman Editorial network Germany.
“But distribution issues are clarified through tax policy, not parental allowance,” he added. By abolishing spouse splitting, “we would put an end to the antiquated tax model that favors the classic distribution of roles between men and women. And the state would save money,” said Klingbeil.
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Coalition loses approval
He received support for this from one of the coalition partners, the Greens. Co-Chairman Ricarda Lang pointed out that her party had long been calling for the abolition of spouse splitting. She also pointed out that the SPD, Greens and FDP could not agree on this within the framework of the coalition agreement.
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FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai, on the other hand, was surprised that the topic was even raised. “Given the appearance of the coalition, the SPD chairman’s initiative is a mystery,” he said. “Anyone who keeps making new proposals that contradict the coalition agreement will always provoke new contradictions and arguments,” he warned.
The taxpayers’ association argued similarly. “That contributes to the fact that people are unsettled,” said President Reiner Holznagel. In marriage splitting, he does not see a particularly high incentive for spouses not to work. Monetarily more decisive is the non-contributory co-insurance in the statutory health insurance. But he doesn’t want to change this either, said President Holznagel.
“A model of the division of labor in the family must not be imposed”
The Ministry of Finance pointed out that the number of married couples who are assessed together is currently 13.5 million. “With joint assessment, tax law recognizes the fact that people take responsibility for one another. These people, who often live in families with children, rightly expect planning security and reliability from the state in times of high stress and uncertainty. It is not the task of the state to intervene in the personal life of families and couples. “A model of the division of labor in the family must not be imposed.”
On the other hand, Klingbeil received approval from the Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB). “Anyone who wants to promote the equal participation of women and men in working life and the partnership-based distribution of family work cannot leave the spouse splitting untouched,” said Elke Hannack, deputy chairwoman of the DGB.
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According to SPD leader Klingbeil, the outcry about the planned cuts in parental allowance is less due to the fact that couples with gross annual incomes of EUR 180,000 to 190,000 should no longer receive it. “Parental allowance is not a social benefit, it is intended to motivate men to take on more responsibility in the family.” Without parental allowance, women will probably stay at home again because men often get more money. “This is a step backwards for equality,” said Klingbeil.
Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens) wants to reduce the group of parental allowance recipients by lowering the limit of taxable income from 300,000 euros to 150,000 euros for couples. She justified this by saying that she had to implement a savings target from the Ministry of Finance. According to initial surveys, the reduction would not even affect five percent of future parents.
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