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Was that still bold?

Or already chutzpah?

So the opposition puzzled.

In any case, she was impressed by Armin Laschet.

Last Tuesday, the Prime Minister announced that he would implement the emergency brake decided by the federal and state governments for incidence values ​​over 100 "one to one", ie to close shops and museums in North Rhine-Westphalia.

But "only three days later his government rowed back," complained SPD opposition leader Thomas Kutschaty.

Laschet said that the stores could stay open as long as they only let in freshly tested customers.

Kutschaty then asked what “the Prime Minister's word is actually still worth”.

And Monika Düker, financial expert for the Greens, told this newspaper that "the state politician Laschet is apparently indifferent to the words of the federal politician Laschet - and vice versa".

This discrepancy between Laschet's national political rhetoric and his state political action can hardly be traced in any other area as well as in economic and financial policy.

As CDU federal chairman and possible candidate for chancellor, Laschet took up the postulates of the CDU economic wing in Berlin: reduce debts as quickly as possible, lower taxes instead of raising them, spending discipline.

But as Prime Minister in North Rhine-Westphalia, he has been acting differently since 2017: He treats debt reduction as a negligible factor, he extended loan repayments over uniquely long periods of time.

And high taxes have always been a concern of his.

Fortunately for Laschet, most observers have so far failed to see how little his actions in North Rhine-Westphalia match his words in the federal government.

The debt juggler

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This applies in particular to the question of whether the gigantic corona loans from the federal and state governments should be repaid quickly or slowly.

The CDU federal chairman Laschet says: as soon as possible.

And repayment should start as early as 2024.

Under no circumstances should the debt brake be overridden in 2024.

He contradicted Chancellery Minister Helge Braun, who wants to "suspend it for a few years".

But in North Rhine-Westphalia the Prime Minister is taking a different course.

Here he decided to repay the corona debt as slowly as possible.

The 25 billion loan that NRW took out to cope with the pandemic will be repaid later than any other federal state.

While Baden-Württemberg wants to repay the debt within ten and Saxony-Anhalt in six years, NRW is taking its unique 50 years.

The State Audit Office rebuked Laschet for saying that this repayment period was far too long.

And Rik Steinheuer, Head of the Taxpayers' Association in North Rhine-Westphalia, told WELT AM SONNTAG: “The repayment should have been limited to a maximum of 30 years in order to give politicians room for maneuver in the future.

Who knows when the next crisis is imminent? ”This criticism is also remarkable because Laschet always liked to quote both the Court of Auditors and the Taxpayers' Association - as long as he was the opposition leader.

It is all the more painful that Steinheuer intensifies his criticism: "If Laschet really cares about the debt brake, he could have proven this with a shorter repayment period for the debts."

The fact that “Laschet is playing two different pieces on the stages in Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia” can also be observed in the other political camp: for example with Gustav Horn, Duisburg's economics professor and advisor to the SPD federal executive committee.

According to him, "the financial politician Laschet appears in Berlin like Friedrich Merz, but in North Rhine-Westphalia he is more like Olaf Scholz".

That is contradicting itself, but good for NRW.

Because, says Horn WELT AM SONNTAG: "Extending debt repayment is sensible in view of the extremely low interest rates." In addition, "with a normal inflation trend and at the same time only moderate economic growth, the value of the sum owed would shrink massively within half a century".

Such considerations are gaining momentum again in German economics.

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But in the praise for the Prime Minister lies the criticism of the CDU federal chairman: “If this strategy is sensible for NRW, it cannot be wrong for Berlin.

His contradictions rob Laschet of credibility, ”says economist Horn.

Of course, the CDU parliamentary group does not want to know anything about this.

When asked, their finance politician Olaf Lehne stated that he saw “no discrepancies between what is required for the federal government and what we do here in North Rhine-Westphalia” in finance and budget policy.

However, Lehne did not address specific questions about the pace of debt repayment.

The tax collector

For months, Laschet has been emphasizing on the Berlin stage that tax cuts are necessary after the general election and that tax increases are taboo.

The Union should act as a guarantor of a tax policy modest state.

With this, Laschet takes up demands of the CDU economic wing, which he has to integrate as party leader.

In NRW, however, a different Laschet is presented.

Even as an opposition leader, he campaigned for tax increases.

And called for the solidarity surcharge to be continued beyond 2020 and, in particular, for it to flow to North Rhine-Westphalia.

It is true that he was reluctant to call the “Soli” a tax - only: “How else can you name a surcharge of 5.5 percent on several taxes, from income to investment income?” Asks economist Horn.

Laschet only gave up his solos postulate when the demand for the complete abolition of solos prevailed in the Union.

Since then, Laschet has been promoting a different way of stimulating tax inflows into North Rhine-Westphalia: He advocates that the federal states receive more from the federal government's tax revenue.

The Federal Finance Ministers of the Republic always reply to this not entirely new demand that this amounts to a tax increase in the federal government.

The federal government has to get the additional amount for the federal states from somewhere.

But that never worried Laschet.

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"The fact that tax cuts, debt reduction and relief for the citizens are apparently no concerns of the heart for Laschet, has been suggested by his government action since 2017," says Rik Steinheuer from the Taxpayers' Association.

In addition to the State Audit Office, the Green Culvert also agrees with him.

However, only in the description, not in the evaluation.

The taxpayers' union dreams of faster debt reduction, the Greens consider increased investments to be more important than hasty debt repayment.

The finding, however, is undisputed.

In 2020, the President of the Court of Auditors, Brigitte Mandt, put it in the words that, until the corona crisis, “tax revenues were better than ever” and “interest rates were at a historically low level”.

But Laschet never used the leeway for saving and reducing debt.

Although his state government had ten billion euros more in the state coffers in 2020 than in 2017. But the debt level at the end of 2019 was just 100 million euros below that of the previous year, as Mandt criticized.

The word breaker

Shortly before taking office, Laschet committed himself to putting a third of every additional euro in debt reduction and a third in tax relief for the citizens.

That would have been around 3.3 billion euros by 2020.

“But he never really thought about that,” says Düker.

"This is not only proven by the minimal debt reduction, but also by the fact that there was no tax relief for citizens."

There aren't many taxes that a state can lower.

But there is one thing: the real estate transfer tax of 6.5 percent.

It flushed the country around 3.8 billion euros into the coffers in 2020.

During the opposition, Laschet complained that this tax was an attack on young families who were dreaming of owning a home.

But since he has led the government, Laschet has not done anything in North Rhine-Westphalia to lower it.

"He would have been able to give back at least the approximately 600 million euros in additional income since 2017 by lowering the tax rate without the help of the federal government," says Düker.

And Steinheuer adds that unfortunately Laschet never seriously examined this idea.

At least one thing Steinheuer takes credit for him: After 2017, Laschet's government did not take on any new debts in the state budget, as did Red-Green 2016.

But even that, sighs the taxpayer boss, was only possible through all sorts of budgetary moves.