The state government will once again present its figures for a budget, once again there will be talk of hardship and pressure and the opposition will clamor. The taxpayers’ association warns that it’s high time to question the whole structure.
Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) – In view of the crisis and the ongoing pressure from pensions, personnel expenses and new debts, the state government must rethink its budget from the point of view of the taxpayers’ association. “Budget planning as a whole has actually been going in the wrong direction for some time. We have a structural problem in the budget,” said state head Eike Möller before the first consultation on the 2023/24 double budget in the state parliament on Wednesday (10 a.m.). The country has built up more and more staff in recent years and will do so again in the new budget. Certain places are well justified. “But all in all, this means that the household is reaching the limits of its capacity,” warned Möller.
In view of the crisis, the green-black coalition wants to change course and now incur new debts in the next budget. The government can look forward to significantly higher tax revenues, but that is not enough to finance all the planned relief, it recently said. Greens and CDU are now planning their own aid package for companies that are in need of existence due to the energy crisis. In addition, the coalition is once again spending a lot of money to advance its own projects. In the future, temporary teachers will also be paid over the summer holidays.
Möller complained that the country had prepared people for a turning point and announced unreasonable demands. “You would have liked to see that in the country,” he told the German Press Agency. “But we can’t see a structural reorganization of the budget and that surprises me.”
From the point of view of the taxpayers’ association, a specialist commission would have to scour the budget and check which expenditures are absolutely necessary and what can be dispensed with in these tougher times. “Do we need an even larger state parliament, police orchestra and all cultural funding, does so much really have to be invested in public relations in the state?” asked Möller. “It’s possible, but you have to be able to question it.”
However, the message has not yet reached the ministries, criticized the state chairman. Despite the difficult budget situation, the ministries of the Greens and CDU announced the creation of 8959 new jobs in the state administration, schools and universities in the budget deliberations. “You can also see the mentality behind it, even if fortunately this high number was not enforced,” said Möller. “Obviously, word hasn’t got around in the ministries that times have changed.” In the 2023/2024 double budget, Grün-Schwarz wants to create almost 1,700 new jobs.
