Linke on finance and taxes

The Left wants to raise the state of Berlin's revenue and redistribute more from top to bottom. It plans a tax on luxury villas, closer tax audits of millionaires, and an end to tax advantages for the top five percent of earners.

The Left wants Berlin to take in more money. There would be a new tax on very expensive villas. The tax office would check millionaires more closely. Tax breaks for the richest would end.

The program attributes the deficits of the state and its districts to a lack of fair taxation of large fortunes, high corporate profits, and very high incomes. It also says the CDU-SPD coalition has used up the reserves. As measures, the Left names a luxury villa tax, thorough tax audits of millionaires, and scrapping tax breaks for the top five percent. The party describes its proposals as fully costed and legally feasible.

The Left wants to balance Berlin's state budget in the medium term without lowering total spending. To do so, it plans to tap more revenue, slow spending growth and make full use of borrowing options. Social infrastructure and investment take priority; the party rejects prestige projects such as an Olympic bid.

Berlin spends more money than it takes in. The Left wants to change that within a few years. It does not want to cut social services to do so. Berlin should take in more money and use more loans. The Left does not want costly big projects like the Olympics.

An audit of the finances is to take place right after the election, followed by a strategy for social infrastructure agreed with civil society. The party relies on an expectation of steadily rising revenue, saying Berlin's economy has grown faster than the national average. It sees savings potential in administrative reform, digitalization and less red tape in grant funding. The cyclical component of the debt rules is to be legally redefined and repayment periods stretched to allow more borrowing. Social service providers are to be involved and given planning certainty. The platform acknowledges that not every improvement can be funded right away.

The Left wants to abolish the debt brake (Schuldenbremse) entirely because, in the party's view, it blocks investment. As long as it applies, state-owned companies are to invest more and receive loans from the state for that purpose.

The debt brake limits how much debt the government may take on. The Left wants to get rid of it completely. Berlin should invest more in bridges, daycare centers, schools and hospitals. Companies owned by the state should get loans for this.

The platform names bridges, daycare centers, hospitals, social facilities and schools as areas in need of investment. The party wants to accompany the reform of the debt brake announced by the federal government while working with partners in states and municipalities toward abolition. State-owned companies are to receive transaction loans from the state, and further financing models are to be added.

The Left wants to coordinate investment from the state budget, the federal special fund and Berlin's state-owned companies, and to set up a state agency for that purpose. The money is to go mainly to climate protection, mobility and social infrastructure. State-owned companies are to be strengthened and protected from being sold.

Berlin should spend more on climate protection, transport and social services. A new state agency should plan this spending. The districts should get more of the federal money. The city's own companies should not be sold. Their prices should stay affordable for people.

The program calls for allocating money from the federal special fund according to citywide priorities rather than short-term individual projects, and for giving the districts a larger share. Regular monitoring is meant to identify long-term needs and keep funds from lapsing; EU and federal programs are to be fully used and co-financed. An agency for strategic investments would help the state, as owner, coordinate the investment plans of its companies. Modernization at the power and district heating grids, the water utility, public pools and the BVG transit company is to be publicly financed so that customers do not bear the costs alone. A privatization brake is to protect state-owned companies from being sold.

The Left wants to raise Berlin's real estate transfer tax from 6.0 to 8.0 percent, or at least to 6.5 percent as in Brandenburg. At the federal level it wants states to be allowed to set graduated rates and wants avoidance through share deals to end.

People who buy land in Berlin pay a tax. The Left wants to raise this tax. It should go from 6 to 8 percent. Social housing and ordinary homes that owners live in could be exempt. For that, a federal law has to change.

The party justifies the increase by saying Berlin should make full use of its revenue options and that wealth should contribute more to the common good. At the federal level it wants to push for letting states set different tax rates. That way, purchases for social housing or for owner-occupied homes below the luxury segment could be spared the extra burden. The federal government is also to revise the tax so that share deals, in which company shares are bought instead of the property itself, can no longer be used to avoid it.

The Left wants to examine raising the local business tax to Potsdam's multiplier of 470 and to make buyers and owners of luxury properties worth 4 million euros or more contribute more. It is also considering a Grundsteuer C (a property tax on undeveloped building land) and higher second-home tax and parking fees.

The Left wants more revenue for Berlin. It will look at a higher tax for businesses. Small businesses should not be hit too hard. People with a villa worth 4 million euros or more should pay more. Parking and second homes could also cost more.

The program points out that Berlin's business tax has not changed since 1999. If it is raised, the burden on small and medium-sized firms struggling with rising commercial rents is to remain manageable. For villas and luxury lofts with a sale value of 4 million euros or more, the party wants to find ways to have buyers and owners help deal with the budget crisis. A Grundsteuer C, a higher tax on undeveloped land that is ready for building, is to be examined in order to curb speculation and encourage housing construction. Overall, the party sees additional revenue potential in the hundreds of millions of euros.

The Left wants to give tax offices more staff and better technology so they can stop tax flight and tax avoidance by large companies and wealthy individuals. Each year, 100 additional tax auditors are to start training.

Tax offices should get more staff and better technology. Each year, 100 more people should start training as tax auditors. Tax auditors check whether companies and rich people pay their taxes. The training should become more attractive, for example with cheap apartments.

The 100 training places per year are to come on top of existing staffing plans. Special bonuses for trainees and affordable trainee apartments from the state-owned housing companies are meant to make the training more attractive. The party wants to examine a new organizational structure as well as lateral entry and promotion routes for mid-level civil servants. When the training cooperation with Brandenburg is renegotiated, it wants to secure more capacity; a Berlin branch of Brandenburg's college of finance could contribute to that.

The Left wants to push at the federal level for the return of the wealth tax and for a reform of the shared taxes. If the federal government does not act, it wants to examine and advance having the states introduce the tax themselves.

The Left wants a tax on large fortunes again. Berlin should make proposals for this at the federal level. The federal government might say no. Then the Left will check whether the states can introduce the tax themselves.

Germany does not currently levy a wealth tax. The program announces federal-level initiatives to bring it back and links this to a reform of the shared taxes, meaning those whose revenue is split among the federal government, states and municipalities. Should the federal level keep blocking the tax, the party wants to have its introduction by the states legally reviewed and pursued. Its stated reason is that wealth should contribute more to financing the common good.

The Left calls for a far-reaching reform of the Schuldenbremse (debt brake) so that states and municipalities can invest more. Berlin's share of the federal special fund is to go specifically toward the social and ecological transformation of companies and serve civilian purposes only.

The debt brake limits how much the state may borrow. The Left wants to change this rule a lot. States and cities should be able to invest more money. Berlin gets 5 billion euros from the federal government. This money should only go to civilian uses, not to weapons.

The platform considers large investments in infrastructure, businesses, and people necessary for the economic transition to succeed. The Left calls it wrong that the federal government loosened the debt brake only for military spending. In its view, the federal special fund of 500 billion euros is not enough. The 5 billion euros allotted to Berlin should also support social and ecological innovation in Berlin companies and be used exclusively for civilian purposes.

The Left wants to examine whether commercial properties that sit empty long-term can be taxed. The platform points to a vacancy rate of at least 8 percent for commercial space in Berlin. Because this requires a basis in federal law, the party wants to push for one through the Bundesrat.

Many commercial spaces in Berlin are empty. The Left wants to look into a tax on such empty spaces. This needs a federal law. The Left wants to push for it in the Bundesrat.

According to the platform, around 1.75 million square meters of commercial space are vacant in Berlin. It says new types of taxes need a federal legal basis under Article 105 of the Basic Law, so the Left plans to act through the Bundesrat (the chamber of the states). At the state level, the party relies on the ban on misuse of space and on regulatory tools against speculative vacancy.

The Left wants to fundamentally change the system by which Berlin's boroughs receive money. Funding would be based on need, because the platform argues the current budgeting method creates the wrong incentives and pits the boroughs against each other.

The Left wants to fund the boroughs in a new way. The money should match what they need. The party says the boroughs have too little money today. And they have to fight each other for it.

The party criticizes budgeting based on cost and performance accounting. In the future, social conditions, population trends, satisfaction, and land area would count more in distributing funds. The Senate departments would mainly coordinate, and oversight would be cooperative, for example through target agreements. To secure funding permanently, the party considers constitutional amendments possible. At the same time, the Senate is to fully exercise the steering responsibility toward the boroughs created by the administrative reform.