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ECONOMY

Economists slam Merkel’s tax relief plans

A panel of top economists believes Chancellor Angela Merkel's new centre-right government should take back its "gift baskets" of tax relief in light of Germany's huge public debt.

Economists slam Merkel's tax relief plans
Photo: DPA

Merkel “promised us that the government would do everything so that our gloomy forecasts would not happen… They can therefore pack up their beautiful gift baskets,” Wolfgang Franz, head of the so-called “Five Wise Ones” panel, told the latest edition of Der Spiegel magazine.

The influential group of economists has forecast growth of 1.6 percent for 2010, which it says is not enough to replenish the public coffers. Two weeks ago they criticised the lack of “concrete information” from the new centre-right government about their plans to reduce the deficit and deal with expected massive drop in tax revenue.

A tax relief package, already voted on by the German parliament amounting to some €8.5 billion ($12.6 billion), is set to take effect in January.

In the panel’s annual report released earlier this month, the economists issued a sharp attack on the new government saying its plans to reduce the country’s ballooning debt were “vague” and “deceptive.”

Merkel, re-elected in September at the head of a new coalition, failed to recognise the scale of the challenges facing Europe’s biggest economy, it said. In particular the new coalition of conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) has failed to spell out how it will reduce Germany’s budget deficit and an “exit strategy” for reducing massive stimulus measures propping up the economy, the panel said.

Michel Fuchs, deputy head of the CDU parliamentary group, called the panel’s criticisms “not only presumptuous and false, but also dangerous.”

But Franz stressed the economic panel was an independent body without a political agenda. “We deliberately express ourselves in terms that are clear and not very diplomatic,” Franz told Der Spiegel. “Our mandate is to warn against bad developments, not to sing someone’s praises.”

He said “the government cannot rely only on growth, which will not be enough to generate the €37 billion which we estimate are needed between now and 2016 to consolidate” the public finances.

Data from the national statistics office earlier this month indicated that the German economy made a comeback in the second and third quarters of 2009 from its worst post-war recession, in large part owing to huge injections of cash – some €80 billion – from the state.

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TAXES

Beskæftigelsesfradraget: What is Denmark’s employment allowance?

Denmark's government may soon announce changes to its tax reform plans, which will give all wage earners a bigger employment allowance. What is this and how will it affect foreigners' earnings?

Beskæftigelsesfradraget: What is Denmark's employment allowance?

What is the employment allowance? 

The Beskæftigelsesfradraget (from beskæftigelse, meaning employment, and fradrag, meaning rebate) was brought in by the centre-right Liberal Party back in 2004, the idea being that it would incentivise people to get off welfare and into a job.

Everyone whose employer pays Denmark’s 8 percent AM-bidrag, or arbejdsmarkedsbidrag, automatically receives beskæftigelsesfradraget. Unlike with some of Denmark’s tax rebates, there is no need to apply. The Danish Tax Agency simply exempts the first portion of your earnings from income taxes. 

In 2022, beskæftigelsesfradraget was set at 10.65 percent of income with a maximum rebate of 44,800 kroner. 

How did the government agree to change the employment allowance in its coalition deal? 

In Responsibility for Denmark, the coalition agreement between the Social Democrats, the Liberals and the Moderate Party, the new government said it would set aside 5 billion kroner for tax reforms.

Of this, 4 billion kroner was earmarked for increasing the employment allowance, with a further 0.3 billion going towards increasing an additional employment allowance for single parents.

According to the public broadcaster DR, the expectation was that this would increase the standard employment  allowance to 12.75 percent up to a maximum rebate of 53,600 kroner. 

How might this be further increased, according to Børsen? 

According to a report in the Børsen newspaper, the government now plans to set aside a further 1.75 billion kroner for tax reforms, of which nearly half — about 800 million kroner — will go towards a further increase to the employment allowance. 

The Danish Chamber of Commerce earlier this month released an analysis in which it argued that by raising removing all limits on the rebate for single parents and raising the maximum rebate for everone else by 20,300 kroner, the government could increase the labour supply by 4,850 people, more than double the 1,500 envisaged in the government agreement. 

According to the Børsen, the government estimates that its new extended allowance will increase the labour supply by 5,150 people.  

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