German finance minister promises tax breaks from 2023 – Bild

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner speaks at a plenary session of the lower house of the German parliament, the Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, December 16, 2021. REUTERS / Annegret Hilse

BERLIN, Jan.2 (Reuters) – Germany’s new government will offer tax breaks to individuals and businesses worth at least € 30 billion ($ 34.1 billion) during this legislature, said Sunday Finance Minister Christian Lindner.

“We will relieve individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises of well over 30 billion euros,” Lindner told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

Noting that the 2022 budget was drawn up by the previous government of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Lindner said his plan for 2023 will include relief such as pension insurance contributions and the end of a surcharge on the price of electricity.

Meanwhile, Lindner, leader of the budget-cautious Free Democrats (FDP), said he had asked his cabinet colleagues to review their ministries’ spending plans.

“We need to get back to sound public finances. We have a responsibility to the younger generation,” he said.

Lindner said one way to save money would be to ditch the construction of a new government terminal at Berlin’s BER Airport, which is expected to cost 50 million euros. He suggested that a temporary building could be used permanently.

The minister is also planning a tax bill to help businesses cope with the current coronavirus pandemic, in particular by allowing them to offset losses in 2022 and 2023 with profits from previous years.

Due to the pandemic, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s ruling coalition agreed to use an emergency clause in the constitution for the third year in a row in 2022 to suspend debt limits and allow new borrowing of $ 100 billion. ‘euros.

From 2023, the coalition aims to return to the debt brake rule in the constitution which limits new borrowing to a tiny fraction of economic output.

($ 1 = 0.8797 euros)

Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Hugh Lawson

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