On Friday, the Bundestag passed the annual tax law with extensive tax changes. There are reliefs, for example, for solar systems, for employees and in housing construction. Mineral oil companies are to make a temporary contribution to the “energy crisis”. A transfer of real estate assets through inheritance and gifts could become more expensive. The Federal Council still has to approve the law.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) wrote on Twitter that the annual tax law contained a few “drops of bitterness”, but mostly good news. He spoke of a tax reduction through higher flat rates and named an extended tax exemption for photovoltaics and a tax simplification for home office.
Lindner had referred to the “energy crisis contribution” of mineral oil companies to European legal requirements that Germany had to implement. He is not talking about an “excess profit tax”, which he had long rejected.
The financial policy spokeswoman for the Greens parliamentary group, Katharina Beck, explained that the participation of oil companies with their excess profits in the costs of the crisis was an “important sign” of justice and solidarity: “Six months ago, nobody would have believed that we would decide this as a traffic light .”
In the case of inheritance and gift tax, the Union in particular had already warned against an increase through the back door. Specifically, against the background of a decision by the Federal Constitutional Court, it is about an adjustment in the valuation of real estate. As a result, heirs to larger assets could face higher costs from January 1, 2023.
Bavaria has already advocated an increase in tax allowances in the Bundesrat. The CSU financial politician Sebastian Brehm accused the FDP of “open election fraud”. The party promised there would be no tax increases.