Freie Wähler on finance and taxes

The Free Voters want to merge the differing VAT rates of 19 and 7 percent into the lower rate. For food and drinks in restaurants, the tax would be cut permanently.

Today there are two tax rates on food: 19 percent and 7 percent. The Free Voters want only the lower rate. This should also apply to drinks in restaurants. The party wants to help restaurants and tourism this way.

The platform justifies the demand with the importance of restaurants and tourism, which consist mostly of mid-sized businesses and also boost retail. The party also sees the alignment at 7 percent as a cut in red tape for food-processing businesses. The reduction would apply to food as well as drinks, with no time limit.

The Free Voters want to roll back requirements imposed on small and mid-sized banks since 2008. They reject the European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS) for savings banks and cooperative banks.

Savings banks and cooperative banks have gotten many new rules since 2008. The Free Voters want to take these rules back. The EU plans a shared safety net for savings, called EDIS. The party rejects this for these banks.

The platform regards the German model of savings banks and cooperative banks as crisis-proof. The party considers the burdens placed on smaller institutions since 2008 disproportionate and wants them removed at once. Against EDIS it argues that these banks have their own protection schemes, which it says have never failed. In its view, a joint European scheme would spread the risks of bank failures in the EU across all savers.

The Free Voters want to keep the debt brake in the constitution and reject loosening it or using off-budget funds. For a few especially important projects, however, there should be an investment clause. This is meant to keep budget rules from blocking the country's modernization.

The debt brake limits new government debt. The Free Voters want to keep this rule. There should be an exception for a few very important projects. The state could set up a separate fund for them.

The platform calls the debt brake a proven tool for limiting public debt. The federal budget must comply with the constitution. According to the platform, the investment clause could take the form of a special fund for investments. The party also rejects excessive German liability risks for the EU.

The Free Voters want to fundamentally reorganize how cities and towns are funded and reduce their legacy debts. The federal government should contribute. The platform attributes the situation to decades of underfunding.

Many cities and towns have too little money. The Free Voters want to change that. The old debts of towns should shrink. The federal government should help with this.

According to the platform, municipalities have taken on about 40 billion euros in Kassenkredite, short-term loans for day-to-day tasks. The party sees this as the result of persistently inadequate funding. The goal is for cities and towns to remain able to carry out their tasks.

The Free Voters want income tax to start only at 24,000 euros a year instead of the current 11,784 euros. This is meant to make work pay more and widen the gap to people receiving benefits. Retirees and pensioners should also be allowed to earn 2,000 euros a month tax-free on top.

Today people pay income tax from about 11,800 euros a year. The Free Voters want to raise this limit to 24,000 euros. That is 2,000 euros a month without tax. This should make work pay more.

The income tax schedule would be shifted step by step to achieve this. The party argues that employees should keep more of their gross pay and share more in economic success. The platform also aims for relief for low and middle incomes and a simpler tax system.

The Free Voters call for a fundamental reform of subsidies, which should be targeted and time-limited. Climate-damaging subsidies should be phased out. The party also wants to do more against wasteful spending and tax evasion.

Subsidies are government money for certain areas. The Free Voters want to check all subsidies regularly. Aid that harms the climate should end. The state should go after tax fraud more strongly.

Every subsidy would be reviewed regularly to see whether it works. The tax administration should be digitized and modernized. Tax investigators and customs should get more money for equipment and staff to combat tax evasion and undeclared work. Rules on construction, social matters, the environment, and species protection that, in the platform's view, delay projects and raise costs should be corrected.

The Free Voters want to abolish the tax on inheritances and gifts. This is meant to protect family businesses and property built up over generations. In the party's view, working and saving should not be penalized.

Today people who inherit a lot or get large gifts pay tax on it. The Free Voters want to abolish these taxes. The party wants to protect family companies this way. Savings should stay in the family.

The abolition is meant above all to benefit mid-sized, family-run businesses. The platform argues that the state should encourage working and saving across several generations. The demand is tied to further relief measures for small and medium-sized businesses.