Grüne on finance and taxes

The Greens want targeted investment in education, climate protection and social justice while achieving balanced budgets. The debt brake is to be reformed so the state can act on long-term tasks, and the budget and subsidies are to become more transparent.

The Greens want to spend money on education, climate and social needs. The state should still not spend more than it takes in. The rule on debt should change. Everyone should be able to see online what the state spends money on.

A future-investment report with indicators is meant to show the effect of spending; money from the federal infrastructure special fund is to go first to renovating existing assets. Plans include an open-data budget, a statewide digital subsidy database and mandatory disclosure of executive pay at savings banks. Airports should pay for themselves: the Greens want to end the state's stake in Dresden airport and reject operating subsidies. Independent providers that perform tasks for the state would get multi-year funding notices issued by the end of April at the latest. A foundation for the long-term costs of lignite mining is planned with the federal government and other eastern states.

The Greens want to lift the obligation to file a tax return for people whose only income is wages or pensions. Instead, they would automatically receive a draft tax assessment.

Some people only get wages or only a pension. They should no longer have to file a tax return. The tax office sends them a ready-made proposal. Then they decide for themselves if it fits.

The exemption would apply to taxpayers whose income comes solely from employment or from pensions. The tax office would present them with a proposed tax assessment on its own initiative. Those affected could then decide on that draft.

The Greens call for a reform of municipal financing with reliable basic funding and an area factor. Heavily indebted municipalities are to get relief through a legacy debt fund, and municipalities are to receive more revenue of their own.

The Greens want towns and villages to have more money. Municipalities with a lot of land should get extra money for it. There should be a fund for places with very high debts. Whoever gives municipalities tasks must also pay for them.

Municipal tax capacity would in future be calculated from the average of the last three years instead of only the year before last. Findings of the ongoing expert report on vertical fiscal equalization are to be implemented, and municipalities would be allowed across-the-board spending reductions of up to 1.5 percent. The connexity principle, under which transferred tasks must come with funding, is to apply strictly. The Greens push for a larger municipal share of sales tax revenue, a trade tax reform benefiting eastern German municipalities and an independent revenue source for counties. Transparent procedures for the county levy and budgets for elected local district councils are also planned.