CDU on finance and taxes

The CDU commits to the debt brake and to a budget without new borrowing. After the crisis, the state is to return to normal budget policy and reduce its COVID-related debt. The party justifies this with responsibility toward future generations.

The CDU does not want to take on new debt. It sticks to the debt brake. That is a rule that tightly limits new debt. In good times, the CDU wants to set money aside. It wants to pay back the debt from the COVID period.

In financially good years, the state is to build reserves for worse ones. In a crisis, North Rhine-Westphalia should be able to act quickly and have enough money to support the economy and jobs. The liabilities from the COVID rescue fund, and the state's debt overall, are to be repaid in line with the economic cycle. According to the platform, lower debt means less interest and more room for later generations; the party also names investment in the future as a goal.

The CDU wants to free clubs and volunteers from administrative burdens and improve their tax treatment. Reporting duties are to be cut to what is necessary. Plans include tax-deductible membership fees, a higher tax-free allowance for instructors and a higher sales tax threshold.

Clubs have a lot of paperwork. The CDU wants to make this easier. Forms should be easy for everyone to understand. Clubs and volunteers should pay less tax. For example, people should be able to deduct membership fees from their taxes.

Forms are to be designed so that board members can fill them out without professional background knowledge, and fees such as those for inspecting shooting ranges will be reviewed. Clubs are to find it easier to acquire property, have more time to build up free reserves and be allowed to use earmarked reserves later. At the federal level, the CDU wants a higher sales tax threshold for clubs and a higher tax-free allowance for local political volunteer offices. Costs for training, travel and home office equipment of club board members are to be recognized for tax purposes. Filing tax returns for clubs is to become simpler through the ELSTER online system.

The CDU wants to help reduce the short-term cash loans weighing on municipalities and says this requires a nationwide debt relief plan. It also wants to take stock of state compensation payments to municipalities and further develop municipal financing and the local business tax.

Many towns and cities have high debts. The CDU wants to help lower these debts. It wants a plan for all of Germany. The rules for local money should also change.

The platform attributes the debt to tasks that were handed to municipalities since the late 1980s without adequate funding. A commission including the municipal umbrella associations is to record all compensation payments the state owes for transferred tasks. The municipal financing law is to be developed so that regional water supply and flood risk prevention are settled for the long term. The local business tax (Gewerbesteuer) is to be collected where it arises.

The CDU wants to abolish the obligation for municipalities to levy road improvement charges. This is to be done in a way that does not trigger compensation claims by municipalities against the state.

When a street is renewed, nearby owners often have to pay part of it. Towns must ask for this money today. The CDU wants to end this duty.

Road improvement charges are fees that municipalities collect from property owners when streets are renewed. The platform wants to remove the obligation to levy them. It wants to avoid so-called connexity consequences, meaning claims by municipalities for financial compensation from the state.

The CDU wants to set up a statewide building program for municipal facilities through NRW.BANK, the state's development bank. At the same time, many separate funding programs are to be bundled so that municipalities can build and renovate according to actual need.

Many town buildings are old. The CDU wants a building program for schools, town halls, fire stations and sports sites. The money should come through the state's bank. Many small funding programs should become a few.

According to the platform, municipal buildings need upgrades to power and heating, IT security and workplaces; a new building is often more economical than a renovation. The building program is to run through the state-owned development bank. In urban development funding, the CDU wants to check more strictly that registered projects can really be carried out, since unspent funds have recently risen again. It also wants to examine how municipalities can be supported in putting the building subsidies into practice.