Grüne on finance and taxes

The Greens want to make sustainable financing easier and the rules for it more consistent and simpler. Government investments would follow sustainability criteria and the Paris climate goals. In the platform's view, sustainable finance makes fossil investments uneconomical and future technologies cheaper.

The Greens want more money to flow into green projects. The state should invest its own money only in climate-friendly ways. The rules for this should become simpler. Companies should not be allowed to falsely call products green.

Germany is to take a leading role in improving the rules for sustainable finance. At the European and international level, requirements would become more coherent and simpler, with a focus on impact and efficiency. There would be clear rules against greenwashing, and financing for biodiversity would be strengthened. The EU directive on sustainability reporting (CSRD) would be written into German law, while the related standards (ESRS) would be simplified. The Green Asset Ratio would be reformed.

The Greens want better protection for consumers in financial matters, especially small investors. The financial regulator BaFin is to focus more on consumer protection and sustainability, and the cost of payments is to come down.

The Greens want to protect people better in money matters. The finance regulator should look out more for customers. Advice about money should be fair and independent. Very high interest rates should get a limit.

The platform calls for high standards, independent financial advice, and protection against dubious or discriminatory business practices. Easily accessible debt counseling and independent consumer education are meant to help with over-indebtedness. BaFin is also to act against greenwashing of financial products, meaning misleading environmental claims, and sustainable financial products are to get clear minimum standards. Costs such as those for credit cards are to fall through new competitors, competition law, and a cap on the effective annual interest rate, without new fees for consumers. Cashless payment is to become easier to access.

The Greens want to set up a Deutschlandfonds (Germany Fund) for the federal government, states, and municipalities to catch up on infrastructure investment. The platform describes the balanced-budget policy known as the 'schwarze Null' as a burden on the country's future viability.

The Greens want to create a Germany Fund. A fund is a large pot of money. The state should use the money to build rail lines and fix schools. Research and companies should also get money.

The fund would pay for rail lines, the renovation of daycare centers, schools, and universities, research, and investment by companies. The money would come on top of regular budget funds. The platform puts the investment backlog at a three-digit billion figure. The fund is meant to operate until a reform of the debt brake has been implemented. Citizens are to be able to take a stake in these investments. According to the platform, the fund does not replace the task of setting priorities in the budget.

The Greens want to change the Schuldenbremse (debt brake) so that the state may borrow as much as it invests. In the platform's view, the current rule blocks investment and measures that would revive the economy.

The Greens want to change the debt brake. The debt brake limits how much debt the state may take on. The state should be allowed to borrow more for investments. But the debt should stay manageable.

The reform is to be compatible with European rules. In addition, the cyclical component is to be widened so the state has more room to act in economically weak periods. The new leeway would be shared between the federal government and the states, and total debt is to remain sustainable over the long term. The platform cites recommendations from the IMF, the Bundesbank, and the German Council of Economic Experts. At the EU level, the Greens support common fiscal rules that allow for sustainable investment.

The Greens want to set clearer priorities in the budget and align it with measurable goals. Tax loopholes are to be closed, and subsidies that harm the climate and environment are to be phased out in a socially balanced way.

The Greens want the state to spend its money in a more targeted way. Gaps in tax law should be closed. The state should stop paying for things that harm the climate. This should happen in a socially fair way.

Ongoing spending is to be financed by closing fairness gaps in the tax system. A more digital, leaner administration is meant to relieve the budget, and a higher employment rate is meant to strengthen tax revenue and social insurance. As a new budgeting tool, the platform names gender budgeting, meaning a review of how spending affects the genders. The distribution of taxes among the federal government, states, and municipalities is to match actual tasks. The fiscal equalization system between the federal government and the states is to stay as it is.

The Greens want to gradually remove state benefits for behavior that harms the climate and the environment. The money freed up is to go to social compensation and to climate and environmental protection.

The state spends money on things that harm the climate. The Greens want to end this step by step. The money saved should help people and the climate. First they want to change the rules for company cars.

The platform announces a phase-out plan for 2025 that is to be carried out by 2030. The party wants to meet Germany's international commitments this way. People affected are to get help with the change and planning certainty, and the phase-out is to be socially balanced. The first step is a reform of company car taxation that favors climate-neutral vehicles. Benefits in aviation are also to be reduced further.

The Greens want to overhaul the inheritance tax, push for a global billionaire tax and close gaps in the tax system. The platform justifies this with what it sees as a very unequal distribution of wealth in Germany.

The Greens want higher taxes on very large inheritances. Each person would get one tax-free amount for their whole life. The home you live in stays tax-free. Billionaires should pay a tax worldwide. Big companies should pay taxes where they make profits.

The inheritance tax would get a per-person lifetime allowance; exemptions for extraordinarily large inheritances would largely be removed, owner-occupied homes would stay exempt, and generous deferral rules would apply. As further possible approaches the platform names a national wealth tax on very high fortunes and real estate taxation without loopholes. Share deals and the gap between taxes on labor and capital income are to be addressed. Measures against municipalities undercutting each other on trade tax are planned, and the extended trade tax deduction for real estate companies would be scrapped. Profits of multinational corporations would be taxed locally, on a basis worked out by the United Nations.

The Greens want to raise the standard deduction for employees to at least 1,500 euros and make filing taxes simpler. Many pensioners would no longer have to file a return at all.

Employees can deduct a flat amount for work costs from their taxes. This amount should rise to at least 1,500 euros. Then many people no longer need to collect receipts. Many pensioners would no longer have to file a tax return. Filing should be possible in an app.

According to the platform, the higher deduction would mean more than half of employees no longer need to collect receipts; higher expenses could still be claimed. Further flat-rate deductions for citizens and small businesses are under review. Filing would be offered through the Deutschland-App. For pensioners, pension providers would withhold income tax automatically.

The Greens want to introduce tax credits to relieve people on low incomes, single parents and those topping up wages with benefits. Working more hours should then always lead to noticeably more income.

People with low incomes should get a tax credit. This is money the tax office credits to them. They would need to fill out fewer forms. People who work more should also have more money. Saving should get more support too.

The credits are meant to spare citizens and agencies application procedures. The basic tax-free allowance would rise, and the solidarity surcharge would be folded into the income tax schedule. To help low and middle earners build wealth, the subsidy for fund savings under employer-sponsored savings plans and the savers' allowance would be raised noticeably.

The Greens want to simplify the value-added tax and remove outdated exemptions. The reform is meant to leave total government revenue unchanged.

The value-added tax has many special rules. The Greens want to remove old special rules. The tax should become simpler. The state should take in the same amount of money as before.

The platform describes today's system as a patchwork of special rules and exemptions. It concedes that a comprehensive reform is difficult and that earlier governments failed at it. The goals are less bureaucracy and fewer misguided incentives.

The Greens want to give cities and towns more funding and relieve heavily indebted municipalities through a legacy debt fund paid for by the federal government and the states. Mandatory tasks delegated to municipalities are to be fully funded. The platform cites an investment backlog of 186 billion euros in municipal infrastructure.

Many cities and towns have too little money. Some have large old debts. The federal government and the states should help with these debts. Towns should get more money directly. They should decide for themselves what they need it for.

Better base funding and the Deutschlandfonds (a proposed investment fund) are meant to let municipalities invest in things like roads, swimming pools and youth clubs. The legacy debt fund is also to take account of eastern German municipalities burdened with inherited liabilities. Tasks such as emergency services, housing refugees or youth social work are to be fully paid for by the federal government and the states. Grant programs are to be cut back and simplified in favor of unrestricted funds. Municipalities are also to be supported in bringing public service utilities back into public ownership where possible; the platform additionally calls for modern structures and fair pay in the public sector.

The Greens want to crack down harder on money laundering, tax evasion and financial market manipulation. The federal government would get more capacity for this, and financial supervision would be strengthened. The platform argues that these offenses cost the economy billions.

Some people cheat on taxes. Others hide money from crimes. The Greens want to go after this more. Federal agencies should get more resources for it.

The EU anti-money-laundering package would be implemented quickly, also taking the European Parliament's demands into account. A nationwide service office would pool expertise on the misuse of cryptocurrencies and share it with the states. The corporate transparency register would be developed further so that money is harder to hide behind complex company structures. Fraud schemes such as cum-ex, cum-cum and carousel fraud are to be stopped. Agencies would be equipped so that tax crimes do not run past the statute of limitations. The Greens also want to examine whether certain especially serious cases of tax evasion should be classed as a felony.