SPD on finance and taxes

The SPD wants a Niedersachsenfonds (NFonds) to enable investments worth billions, financed by loans taken out through investment companies outside the debt brake. It considers the debt brake hostile to investment and wants to turn the NBank into an investment bank.

The SPD wants to invest a lot of money in Lower Saxony. There will be a new fund for this. Separate companies would take out loans. That way the strict debt rules do not apply to these loans. The money would go to housing and hospitals, for example.

The program names housing construction, state-owned buildings, universities and hospitals as the main areas. The state parliament is to keep control through management of the state's holdings. The SPD rules out uncontrolled debt because the loans are to be backed by real assets and by refinancing and repayment plans. The NBank is to receive more funds so it can raise more money on the capital market and invest in future-oriented fields. According to the program, additional projects are subject to available funding because of the budget situation.

The SPD wants counties, cities and towns to stand on solid financial ground. Strengthening municipal finances is to remain a priority in the state budget.

Cities and villages do many important jobs. They need enough money for that. The SPD wants the state to keep giving them a lot of money. This should stay an important part of the state budget.

The program points out that more than one in three euros of the state budget goes to municipalities. During the coronavirus crisis, it says, the state provided a protective shield of over one billion euros for them. Going forward, the SPD wants to fund municipalities as the state constitution requires and work with them as partners.

The SPD wants to close tax loopholes and calls for taxation of digital corporations, a minimum tax rate and a financial transaction tax. In Lower Saxony, the tax administration is to get more staff and modern IT to enforce taxes evenly.

The SPD wants everyone to pay their taxes. Big companies should no longer be able to use tricks. Internet corporations should pay fair taxes. Tax offices should get more staff and better computers.

Internationally, data exchange is to be stepped up, and the SPD wants to support federal measures against tax evasion and money laundering. The tax administration is to get additional positions, more trainees, further training and up-to-date IT. In the property tax reform, taxpayers are to be told early what they will owe in the future. Municipalities are to be able to adjust their local multipliers so that total revenue stays the same.