Outrage over tax rebates for foreign skilled workers
Foreign specialists who take up a job in Germany should pay less taxes for three years according to the traffic light coalition's growth package. However, there is strong opposition. Both in the ranks of the SPD and the Greens, as well as among employers and employees, there is growing discontent.
The opposition to the tax breaks planned by the traffic light coalition for foreign specialists is growing. "Some proposals surprise me quite a bit," said Saxony's Social Minister Petra Köpping of the SPD to the "Tagesspiegel". What is important are "reliefs for the working middle class and not for specific groups," Köpping said. Thuringia's Interior Minister and Vice-Minister-President Georg Maier also expressed himself critically. "This could lead to new justice debates in the east," Maier, the SPD's top candidate for the Thuringian state election, told the "Tagesspiegel". As long as people there earn significantly below average and pensions and assets are also significantly below the federal average, such privileges for migrants should not be introduced, Maier said.
Green labor market politician Beate Müller-Gemmeke also expressed her rejection. "There is a good reason for an equal treatment principle in our labor law," she said to the "Tagesspiegel". "And in my opinion, it would not be upheld if, with the same work, some had more money in their wallets than others. I therefore assume that these tax incentives would be legally problematic." Treating employees differently is "neither fair nor just."
The federal government announced in its growth package that foreign specialists who take up a job in Germany should pay less taxes for three years. After five years, the effect of this measure should be examined.
Employer associations see false signal
Criticism came also from employer and employee side. The Federal Association of German Employers' Associations (BDA) stated in response to a question from the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland that the proposal contradicts tax fairness and sends a false intra-political signal. "It could also lead to unrest in industrial peace in many places," warned BDA managing director Steffen Kampeter. "For all employees, it is: More net from gross. The greater potential lies in the homeland. That is the mistake of the proposal."
Already on Friday, the head of the German Trade Union Federation DGB, Yasmin Fahimi, had said that a tax advantage for foreign specialists would be a social powder keg. The chairman of the German Tax Union, Florian Köbler, also criticized the plans. "It goes without saying that we need to attract more foreign specialists to Germany," Köbler told the Funke Media Group newspapers. "But I would be very reluctant about tax privileges for this group." Köbler named several reasons for his skepticism. "Such an approach would also bring a lot of bureaucracy with it - in the companies and in the financial departments," said the head of the union for personnel in the tax administration. "It seems questionable to me whether such tax advantages would be compatible with the equality principle of the Basic Law," Köbler added.
## FDP Defends Plans
The deputy faction leader of the FDP in the Bundestag, Christoph Meyer, defended the plans. Germany needs to compete in the international market for the best minds and therefore drastically improve the conditions for specialists, Meyer told the Funke Media Group newspapers. "A tax bonus for the recruitment of qualified specialists has been standard in half of the EU and a common practice worldwide for a long time. Germany needs to catch up here. Anyone who, like the CDU, misuses the recruitment premium for a jealousy debate harms the German economic location and puts future growth and prosperity at risk", Meyer added. The Union had previously criticized the plans.
The German Association of Private Care Services also welcomed tax incentives for foreign specialists. "We welcome all steps to motivate international forces to take up employment in Germany", said Bernd Meurer, President of the German Association of Private Providers of Social Services, to the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland. Foreign workers have many additional costs in the phase of arrival. "If this additional burden is offset by a corresponding tax relief, that is also good for domestic colleagues", so Meurer. The care workers in Germany are "very happy about the additional relief through additional employees", emphasized the association head.
The chief economist of the Wirtschaftswoche, Monika Schnitzer, called the tax deduction planned by the traffic light government insufficient: "Time-limited tax deductions for foreign specialists are widespread. In order to be attractive in the international competition for foreign specialists, tax incentives can therefore help. The best incentives help nothing, however, if the bureaucratic hurdles to employment in Germany are not quickly reduced", Schnitzer told the "Rheinische Post".
The opposition to the tax breaks for foreign specialists within the SPD, such as Social Minister Petra Köpping and Georg Maier, Thuringia's Interior Minister, criticizes the proposal as potentially leading to inequality and causing new justice debates in the east.
Yasmin Fahimi, the head of the German Trade Union Federation (DGB), also views a tax advantage for foreign specialists as a potential social powder keg, while Florian Köbler, the chairman of the German Tax Union, remains skeptical of tax privileges for this group due to potential bureaucratic challenges and compatibility issues with the equality principle of the Basic Law.
Despite this opposition, the FDP, represented by deputy faction leader Christoph Meyer in the Bundestag, defends the plans, arguing that Germany needs to improve conditions for specialists to compete internationally and attract the best minds, which would benefit the German economic location and future growth.
