Linke on finance and taxes

The Left wants to keep paying for climate action after 2027 through a debt-financed climate fund, using the exemption clause of the debt brake. It also wants to amend the state constitution so that the cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven can take out loans again.

Climate action costs a lot of money. The Left wants a climate fund paid for with loans. The debt brake limits new debt. The fund should get an exception. The two cities should also be allowed to borrow again.

The climate fund is meant to secure public money for climate neutrality beyond 2027, with special attention to social balance. The platform points to the coalition's decision to suspend the debt brake with the 2023 supplementary budget and set up a special fund of 3 billion euros. Independently of the climate emergency, a constitutional change is to let the two municipalities borrow again to build schools, daycare centers, and other infrastructure.

The Left wants to replace Ehegattensplitting (joint tax splitting for spouses) with individual taxation and a transferable basic allowance. Mini-jobs should become jobs with social insurance coverage. In the party's view, current tax law entrenches traditional gender roles at the expense of women's employment.

Married couples pay taxes together today. This is called spousal splitting. The Left wants to change that. Each person should be taxed alone. Mini-jobs should become jobs with social insurance.

Under the proposed model, both spouses are assessed individually, but the basic tax-free allowance can be transferred to the partner. The platform argues that splitting favors the single-earner model and disadvantages women all the way to retirement. Mini-jobs would become subject to social insurance, with contribution rates rising gradually up to gross pay of 1,800 euros a month.

The Left wants to remove the debt brake from Germany's Basic Law and from Bremen's state constitution. Until then, declared emergencies are to allow borrowing for climate action and the fallout of the energy price crisis.

The debt brake mostly bans the state from taking on new debt. The Left wants to abolish this rule. Bremen should be able to borrow for climate protection. It should also borrow to help with high energy prices.

According to the platform, climate protection alone requires about one billion euros in additional spending per year over the next decade. In the party's view, the borrowing ban for the municipalities of Bremen and Bremerhaven and the strict rules for municipal enterprises block investment. If climate spending is paid for with loans, the budget funds freed up should go to repairs and fighting poverty. The federal government should also take over Bremen's legacy debt; the state currently pays about 550 million euros a year in interest.

The Left wants to gradually dissolve the assets of the Anstalt für Versorgungsvorsorge (AVV, Bremen's civil service pension reserve) and invest them. Public companies are to be used more for loan-financed investment, and new public property created.

Bremen keeps money in a reserve for pensions. The Left wants to spend this money step by step. It should improve schools and other buildings. The city should own more buildings and apartments itself.

According to the platform, the AVV holds several hundred million euros that should go to school equipment, the energy transition, infrastructure and social balance. The borrowing options of publicly owned companies are to be legally reassessed. The housing companies GEWOBA and BREBAU should build more schools and daycare centers, whose capacity is to grow quickly. Bremen should buy apartments from private companies and build or buy office space rather than rent it long-term.

The Left calls for a wealth tax of one percent on assets above one million euros and a wealth levy of at least ten percent on private financial assets above two million euros. Since borrowing is not a permanent solution, large fortunes are to contribute more.

The Left wants a tax on large fortunes. People with more than one million euros should pay one percent. Very rich people should pay an extra levy too. The money should reduce inequality.

The Senate is to examine whether Bremen can introduce a wealth tax under state law. The platform justifies the levy by pointing to the pandemic's effects, the burdens of the war in Ukraine and climate change. Private wealth is thus meant to help offset social inequality. The party sums up the principle by saying its debt brake is called the wealth tax.

The Left wants to tax companies' profit surges resulting from the war in Ukraine at 50 percent and introduce a digital tax for large internet corporations. The tax administration is to get more staff.

Some companies made much more profit because of the war. The Left wants to take half of that as tax. Big internet firms should pay tax where they earn money. Tax offices should get more staff.

In the platform's view, corporate profits are not taxed sufficiently so far. The digital tax is meant to make firms like Facebook and Google pay tax on revenue where it is generated. For swift and fair tax enforcement, the tax office and tax administration should receive additional positions. More company auditors and more staff to fight money laundering and undeclared work are planned.

The Left wants to reform income tax so that small and medium incomes pay less and very high incomes pay more. Tax breaks on inheriting company shares are to end, and value-added tax on staple foods is to fall to zero.

People with low or middle incomes should pay less tax. Very rich people should pay more. People who inherit large company shares should pay tax on them. Bread and other basic foods should have no value-added tax.

Inheritance tax is to be adjusted to the growing volume of inheritances, with owner-occupied homes remaining exempt. Everyday goods should carry a value-added tax of seven percent. The party wants to change the tax on capital income because income from profits is taxed at a lower rate than income from work. Most of these plans are aimed at the federal level.