Rolf Mützenich: SPD parliamentary group leader “astonished” by Green Party leader Omid Nouripour

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SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich: “The finance minister looks at the high earners”

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Michael Kappeler/dpa

The chairman of the largest government faction in the Bundestag is on a collision course with the FDP and the Greens: SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich is “surprised” that Green Party leader Omid Nouripour sided with Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) in the debate about increasing the child tax allowance .

The background to the debate is Lindner's plans to increase the child allowance. Critics - including representatives of the SPD and the Greens - complained that only families with high incomes benefited from this. That is why they are demanding that child benefit should also be increased.

"I was surprised that the chairman of the Greens sided closely with the Federal Minister of Finance," said Mützenich. The social democrats stand up for the majority of people, and they receive child benefit. "The finance minister looks at the high earners." It's about a fundamental discussion in social policy. "If the child tax allowance has to be adjusted, from the SPD's point of view, the child benefit must also be adjusted."

Nouripour told Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg on Monday morning that he had a "greater understanding" that the child tax allowance now had to be increased. The increase is taking place for the first time in this legislative period, but child benefit has already been increased - directly and indirectly - three times. He therefore “doesn’t necessarily understand the dispute,” said Nouripour (read an analysis of the child allowance and child benefit here ).

Nouripour's party colleague, parliamentary group leader Britta Haßelmann, criticized the finance ministry's plans. "We don't want to send the signal that we are granting support to some of the families with higher incomes," she said. The government must “reach many families in the middle of society.” That's why, for her, child benefit and child allowance were "always thought of together."

Finance Minister Lindner had already announced increases in the child tax allowance and the tax-free basic amount for 2024 in September 2023. This corresponds to a tax relief of almost two billion euros, for which the corresponding shortfall in revenue is taken into account in the draft federal budget.

However, Lindner has not yet planned a further increase in child benefit. So far, no money has been earmarked for this in the plans for the federal budget, which is to be approved by the Bundestag on February 2nd.

cte/ulz/AFP/Reuters