SPD on finance and taxes

The SPD wants to make Frankfurt a global center for sustainable finance and create an agency for sustainable finance there. It backs a European anti-money-laundering authority and wants it based in Frankfurt. Mid-sized companies and startups should get easier access to capital markets.

The SPD wants to strengthen Frankfurt as a finance center. Frankfurt should become a center for green investing. There should be a new agency for this. A European office against money laundering should come to Frankfurt. Small companies should get money from capital markets more easily.

The financial sector, companies, researchers and public bodies would work out proposals for more sustainable financial solutions together. Banks and savings banks would play a central role as intermediaries so that offerings emerge that spread risk widely and centralize processing. The federally funded EuroDaT project, a neutral nonprofit data trustee, would continue to receive funding and take on more financial market players. Building on that, the SPD wants to strengthen the fintech scene.

The SPD first wants to review all of the state's spending and tasks. A permanent financing instrument controlled by the state parliament is to be created for investments in climate protection, digitalization, education and infrastructure. Debt rules should not block needed investment.

The SPD first wants to check what Hesse spends money on. Then it wants to invest more in the future. For example in schools, climate protection and the internet. There should be a special fund for this. The state parliament should control it.

The starting point is a full budget review in which the state's spending and tasks are examined and priorities set. Simpler administration and coordination with municipalities are meant to free up money. The investment instrument is to stay within the debt brake of the federal constitution and the exceptions in the state constitution. The SPD welcomes the federal government's plan to review the cyclical component of the debt brake, because an adjustment would also give the state more room. State tasks are to be paid for by the state itself in the future.

The SPD wants to revise the municipal fiscal equalization system and abolish the road improvement charges levied on property owners. The state is to replace the lost revenue for municipalities. Municipalities are also to be allowed to earn more revenue of their own, for example from renewable energy.

Towns and villages should get more money from the state. Residents should no longer pay for the upgrade of their street. The state should replace this money for the towns. Towns should also be allowed to earn more money themselves. For example with power from wind and sun.

According to the platform, the state shifts costs for things like daycare, swimming pools and hospitals onto municipalities, which is why the municipal fiscal equalization system (KFA) is to be reworked. The loss of road improvement charges is to be offset by a flat investment grant from the state. The legal framework for municipal business activity is to be widened, especially in renewable energy and subsidized housing. Towns are to get support for their own energy supply and modern local heating. Local energy cooperatives are to be set up.

The SPD wants to use the Bundesrat (the chamber of the states) to push for several new or changed taxes, including a wealth tax, a financial transaction tax and a windfall profits tax. The flat tax on capital income is to go. Tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance are to be fought harder.

The SPD wants rich people and large companies to pay more tax. It wants a tax on large fortunes. Trading in shares should also be taxed. Companies should be audited more often. People who do not pay their taxes should be pursued.

In the Bundesrat, the Hesse SPD wants to abolish the Abgeltungsteuer, the flat-rate tax on capital income. It backs a tax on financial transactions and a levy on crisis-related profits of large companies. It supports the national party's plans for a wealth tax and a reform of inheritance tax. Minimum standards for company and tax audits are to apply nationwide. The tax administration is to have enough staff so that, especially in the metropolitan region, all companies due for an audit are actually audited.