With the adoption in the Bundesrat on Friday, the relief package decided by the traffic light coalition cleared the last hurdle in the legislative process.

The government has come up with a number of ways of relieving the burden on citizens in view of the extremely high energy prices.

There has been a lot of discussion about the fairness of the distribution.

"We don't leave anyone alone," said Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz in his government statement on Thursday. This applies in particular to people with small and medium-sized incomes.

Alexander Wulfers

Editor in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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The measures would reach the citizens “directly, quickly and in a targeted manner”.

Social associations, on the other hand, had criticized that pensioners were being neglected.

They can also benefit from this.

The FAS uses five examples to calculate who benefits from the relief package and who gets nothing.

Exceptions and special cases included.

Cheaper petrol

The tax on petrol is to be reduced by 30 cents per liter from June to August, and that on diesel by 14 cents per liter.

How much the individual benefits from this depends on how many kilometers he or she covers in this time.

The average consumption of a petrol engine in Germany was around eight liters per 100 kilometers, and that of a diesel vehicle seven liters.

Anyone who commutes 60 working days in the three months and lives 20 kilometers from their workplace drives 2400 kilometers in this time.

One could optimistically assume that the gas stations would pass the tax reduction on to the customer in full.

However, it is more realistic that the gas stations will increase their net prices and keep part of the relief for themselves.

Here's an example from two years ago.

When VAT fell due to the corona pandemic, companies only passed on 61 percent of this relief to customers for E10 petrol and 83 percent for diesel, as a group of Munich economists led by Monika Schnitzer showed.

For the current case, that would mean: The price of petrol falls by 18 cents per liter, the price of diesel by 12 cents.

In the sample calculation, the commuter would then save 35 euros on petrol and 20 euros on diesel.

Whose car consumes more or who drives longer distances benefits correspondingly more.

commuter allowance increases

Anyone who drives more than 20 kilometers to work will also benefit from the early increase in the commuter allowance.

That shouldn't really come until 2024.

Now this year it will increase by three cents after the 21st kilometer, retrospectively from January 1st.

For example, if you drive 30 kilometers to work on 230 working days a year, you can claim an additional 69 euros from the tax office – provided that the total income-related expenses exceed the lump sum of 1200 euros, which is also increased.

If you drive less than 20 kilometers, you get nothing.

The amount of savings that the commuter allowance represents depends on income. High earners who would have to pay the top tax rate, i.e. just under 29 euros, save the most here.

And if you don't pay taxes because you don't earn enough, you can't deduct anything and you're left with nothing.

For nine euros on the train

For only nine euros a month, travelers and commuters will be able to use local transport throughout the country in the summer months from June to August.

How much relief the 9-euro ticket actually has depends on a number of factors: if you use public transport to get to work, you save on the monthly pass in summer.

The cost varies depending on where you live.

A survey by the ADAC last year showed that among major German cities, Munich offers the cheapest and Hamburg the most expensive ticket.

Today the price in Munich is around 59 euros, in Hamburg around 114 euros.

The saving over the three months is between 150 and 315 euros.

Anyone who has to cover longer distances in rural areas saves even more.

Anyone who commutes to Berlin from a district in Brandenburg usually pays at least 142 euros a month – and will save 399 euros this summer.

If you switch from your own car to the bus and train because of the 9-euro ticket, the savings depend on the price of petrol and the length of the journey.

In this case, however, you will not benefit from the reduction in fuel tax over the summer.