Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner has again spoken out in favor of an automatic adjustment of income tax to the rate of inflation.
“If social benefits such as the standard rate for basic security are automatically adjusted to inflation, then working people must also receive automatic compensation,” said the FDP leader to the newspapers of the Funke media group. “We need a tariff on wheels.”
It is currently the case that the income tax rate is adjusted to inflation every two years. “It has to be a political decision every time. I would like to change the law so that the tax rate is automatically adjusted to the inflation rate.”
So far, without political intervention, high inflation has led to so-called cold progression: Despite falling purchasing power, the same taxes have to be paid, so the relative tax burden on citizens is increasing. The cabinet has already launched plans for the coming year to cushion this effect. Among other things, the basic tax-free allowance is to be increased for this purpose.
