Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has put his party leader Lars Klingbeil’s initiative to abolish spouse splitting into perspective.
Spouse splitting is the legal situation in Germany, but “of course there are always discussions as to whether it is disproportionate, especially for those who earn a few hundred thousand euros a year,” said Scholz last night at a citizens’ dialogue in Füssen, Bavaria. “But for average earners, nobody intends to propose a worsening of the tax burden now. I think that’s always very important for classifying the discussion.”
Greens open, FDP rejecting
In an interview, the SPD chairman Klingbeil had proposed the general abolition of spouse splitting for new marriages – regardless of the amount of income – instead of the savings in parental allowance planned by Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens).
“We are finally doing away with spouse splitting. This would put an end to the antiquated tax model that favors the classic distribution of roles between men and women. And the state would save money,” Klingbeil told the editorial network Germany (RND). The Greens were open to it, and the FDP promptly rejected the proposal.
With spouse splitting, the joint income of a couple is halved, the income tax due is calculated and the tax liability is then doubled. This is particularly useful for couples where one earns a lot and the other a little. The marriage splitting was only written into the Income Tax Act in 1958 at the instigation of the Federal Constitutional Court.
Another press conference, then vacation
Spouse splitting is also likely to be discussed at the Chancellor’s traditional summer press conference. Today, just a few days before his vacation, the SPD politician will answer questions from the capital’s journalists for about 90 minutes.
Among other things, it should be about the turbulence of the past few weeks in the traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP and the poll high of the AfD, which is now in second place behind the Union and ahead of the Social Democrats. But the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine shortly after the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, could also play a role.
Scholz will attend the EU-Latin America summit in Brussels early next week and then go on vacation to “friendly European countries”. The resort is not yet known.
