Above all, the increased energy prices are tearing a hole in the household coffers of millions of people in Germany. The federal government wants to counteract this and is discussing a further package of measures. The SPD boss warns that things have to be done quickly, otherwise it could become “fire-dangerous”.
Immediately before the cabinet meeting, SPD leader Lars Klingbeil called for a quick agreement on the planned relief for citizens. “The third relief package has to come really quickly now. It’s urgently needed,” Klingbeil told the “Stern”. This is a clear signal that people need now. The current insecurity could result in something “extremely dangerous for our society and democracy if the impression is given that Berlin doesn’t have it under control,” said Klingbeil.
Specifically, he would like one-off payments that also reach pensioners and students. From his point of view, relief should therefore be financed via an excess profit tax. Klingbeil said the focus this time is on low-income earners. “We can’t compensate for everything, but we will continue to cushion the impact. And only for those who are really hard hit. There will be groups to which we say clearly: We can’t do anything for you.”
However, FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai rejected the Greens’ and SPD’s call for an excess profit tax. “From our point of view, an excess profit tax would make no sense in the form in which it is formulated,” said Djir-Sarai in ntv’s “Frühstart”. He cited Italy as an example, which had introduced a form of this tax: “They went in there using the term turnover and at the end of the day they have the problem that the companies pass on the additional costs that have arisen here to the consumers passed on to consumers.” Djir-Sarai emphasized: “Profits are heavily taxed in Germany. What excess profit is, how you define it, that’s a huge problem.”
Because of the sharp rise in prices for energy and food, for example, the federal government is working on a relief package. This Tuesday and Wednesday she is giving advice at a cabinet meeting in the Schloss Meseberg guest house north of Berlin. Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck promised relief for the citizens. “They will come soon,” said the Green politician on Deutschlandfunk. The gas surcharge that will come into effect from October, which gas users will have to pay to stabilize importers, will reach end consumers around November, but will only represent a small part of the additional burdens in the energy sector. That is why it is now necessary to decide how the citizens can be relieved.