SSW on pensions

The SSW wants to give tax advantages to private retirement saving through securities. It proposes a private retirement account with tax-free returns and a substantially higher saver's allowance.

Many people save for old age on their own. The SSW wants to help them. There would be a special account for retirement savings. Gains in this account stay tax-free until retirement. Savers should also pay less tax on gains in general.

Within the retirement account, price gains, distributions and interest would remain untaxed as long as the money is not withdrawn before retirement. The account would count as non-usable assets, stay untouched when someone applies for basic income support, and be protected from seizure. In addition, the saver's allowance would rise sharply. In the party's view, small investors should be rewarded for providing for themselves rather than burdened with high tax rates.

The SSW wants the statutory pension, as the main pillar of retirement provision, to be designed in a socially fair way to prevent old-age poverty. In the long run, everyone who works would pay into one shared pay-as-you-go system.

The SSW wants to change the pension system. Everyone who works should pay into it. That includes self-employed people. People who earn a lot should pay more. This should mean fewer poor older people.

The planned Erwerbstätigenversicherung (insurance for all working people) would cover everyone who works and all types of income, and would be designed to be gender-fair. The program sees the Grundrente (basic pension) as a first step. Barriers that keep groups such as solo self-employed people out of the social insurance systems are to be removed. The SSW points to a Scandinavian-style welfare state in which those who can afford more carry a larger share than today.