Skills shortage - BSW: Tax plans are a slap in the face for ordinary people
The debate about tax benefits for foreign workers, according to BSW chief Sahra Wagenknecht, is regrettable. "The plans are a slap in the face for the average citizen who has always paid his taxes and duties faithfully here," Wagenknecht told the German Press Agency in Dresden. German society has been taking in massive numbers of refugees for at least ten years and paying around 50 billion euros a year for it. "The thanks of the federal government is that foreign workers, who come from outside, are now even better off than the native population."
Wagenknecht spoke of a "policy against one's own population." "I already have the Scientific Service of the Bundestag check if these plans are even constitutional. In any case, the traffic light must reject this proposal." Instead, one needs a tax and social security reform that relieves normal earners.
Criticism of Ampel plans also from SPD and Greens
The planned tax incentives for foreign skilled workers caused discussions elsewhere as well. "This is a real discrimination program for domestic workers that the traffic light has thought up," said the chairman of the opposition Christian Socials in the German parliament, Alexander Dobrindt, to the German Press Agency. Criticism also came from the ranks of the ruling parties: "I understand perfectly well why people are irritated by that," said Saxony's Social Minister Petra Köpping (SPD) to the "Tagesspiegel." Green labor market politician Beate Müller-Gemmeke told the newspaper: "There is a reason for an equal treatment principle in our labor law."
In order to make Germany more attractive to experts from abroad in view of the labor shortages in some industries, the government wants to make the first three years of wages tax-free for "newly arrived skilled workers." However, there should be lower and upper limits on salaries. Tax incentives for highly qualified foreigners have been a topic for years. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) referred to other European countries that already grant tax exemptions to incoming skilled workers.
- Sahra Wagenknecht, the BSW chief, criticized the tax benefits proposal for foreign workers, considering it a insult to local taxpayers in Dresden.
- German society has been providing shelter and annual expenditures of approximately 50 billion euros for refugees over a decade, according to Wagenknecht.
- The SPD and Greens have also joined the criticism, raising concerns about perceived discrimination towards domestic workers in the Ampel plans.
- Petra Köpping, the SPD's Social Minister in Saxony, voiced her understanding of the public's irritation towards the proposed tax incentives for foreign workers.
- In response to the skills shortage in certain industries, the Federal Government aims to exempt the first three years of wages from taxes for "newly arrived skilled workers."
- Beate Müller-Gemmeke, a Green labor market politician, emphasized the importance of an equal treatment principle in the German labor law.
- The issue of tax exemptions for highly qualified foreigners has been a recurring topic, with Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) citing similar policies in other European countries.
- Wagenknecht argued for a tax and social security reform that would alleviate the burden on normal earners, rather than offering preferential treatment to foreign workers.
