Higher basic allowance, higher employee lump sum, higher distance allowance for long-distance commuters plus one-off energy price lump sum and child bonus - the package of measures with which the traffic light reacts to the accelerated inflation, not least as a result of sharply increased energy prices, goes in the right direction, but the relief is too small in its effect and the way there sometimes too cumbersome.

This is how associations and experts judge in their statements for the Bundestag.

The finance committee will question you this Monday.

Manfred Schäfers

Business correspondent in Berlin.

  • Follow I follow

According to calculations by Frank Hechtner from the University of Nuremberg, the planned tax relief law for 2022 will relieve a family with two children by almost 900 euros a year.

If both work, both receive the energy flat rate of 300 euros, plus the child bonus of two times 100 euros.

That alone is 800 euros more per year for low earners.

The draft law also provides for the basic allowance to be increased by EUR 363 and the flat-rate employee allowance by EUR 200.

That relieves the spouses again.

The relief fizzles out quickly

But at some point the matter turns in the tariff.

If both earn well, less of the energy flat rate will remain, as it has to be taxed.

This is intended as a social component.

If the spouses in the two-child family each earn 5,000 euros a month, according to Hechtner, they will end up having 670 euros more at their disposal a year.

According to him, a single parent with one child can hope for up to an additional 445 euros (with an income of 2000 euros per month).

If she earns 5000 euros a month, it is 336 euros.

According to Hechtner's table, a single person without children is relieved by a maximum of 345 euros (from 6500 euros).

The economist did not take into account the commuter allowance increased by 3 cents to 38 cents from the 21st kilometer onwards because not everyone benefits from it and too many scenarios are conceivable.

The Federal Association of Income Tax Assistance Associations points out that employees who drive 20 kilometers to work are not relieved of the income-related expenses at all.

They benefited neither from the increase in the distance allowance from the 21st kilometer nor from the increase in the employee allowance, "because the distance allowance for 220 working days, for example, is 1320 euros (220 days × 20 km × 0.30 euros)".

Employees who drive 30 kilometers every working day could claim 66 euros more income-related expenses for the entire year with the increased flat rate.

With a gross wage of 1,500 euros, this corresponds to an actual reduction of 13 euros per year, with 6,000 euros it is 28 euros.

Tax adjustment does nothing

The German trade union federation complains that the distance allowance does not take social concerns into account.

If the journey to work is the same, the relief is even greater the higher the income.

He calls for the commuter allowance to be transformed into a uniform mobility allowance, with which the same amount is deducted from the tax liability for each kilometer for everyone, regardless of income and regardless of the means of transport.

The taxpayers' association considers the adjustment of the tax rate to be too low.

"In order to completely reduce the cold progression, however, all tariff parameters and not just the basic allowance must be indexed." In addition, an inflation forecast that is as up-to-date as possible should be taken into account.

In this context, he points out that the Bundesbank expects an inflation rate of 5 percent for this year.

Eight leading associations of the German economy also do not consider the proposed measures to be sufficient.

They also criticize the additional effort associated with the subsequent increase in the basic allowance and employee allowance.

The planned payment of the energy price flat rate by the employer is associated with additional costs and effort for them.

Tax college teacher Hechtner sees this critically for another reason.

"Various problems arise in the application area of ​​mini-jobs, in some cases these cause an increased risk of abuse." In this context, it cannot be ruled out that the energy price flat-rate will be paid out to one person several times by different employers.

It is similar in the case of a mini job with a full-time job.