What do the parties in Lower Saxony say on finance and taxes?

The AfD wants tasks and tax revenue clearly divided among the federal government, the states, and municipalities, with a larger share going to municipalities. Whoever assigns a task to municipalities should pay its full cost.

The AfD wants towns to get more tax money. If the state gives towns a task, it should pay for it in full. It should be clear who has which task. States and towns should be allowed to compete a little on taxes.

The AfD wants all German citizens to be liable for tax, even if they live abroad, and wants to stop profit shifting. It rejects the EU levying taxes of its own.

The AfD wants all Germans to pay taxes in Germany. This should apply even if they live abroad. Companies should pay tax here on profits made in Germany. The EU should not collect its own taxes.

The AfD wants to reduce subsidies, limit them tightly in time, and review them regularly for cost-effectiveness. According to the platform, permanent aid weakens recipients' motivation and burdens the majority.

The AfD wants fewer subsidies. That is money the state gives to companies or groups. The aid should run only for a short time. The state should check whether it pays off.

The AfD wants to narrow nonprofit status and end public support for a range of organizations and causes. In its view, many ideological and religious associations recognized as nonprofits act in a one-sided way.

The AfD wants to stop giving state money to certain groups. These include Islamic associations and projects on gender and sexual diversity. Climate projects should get no money either. Only groups that support the constitution should get tax benefits.

The AfD wants to keep the debt brake in the state constitution unchanged. This is meant to protect citizens from rising taxes and levies; the party rejects new charges such as a hotel bed tax or a horse tax.

The AfD wants to keep the debt brake. This is a rule that limits new state debt. Citizens should not have to pay more taxes. The AfD rejects a hotel bed tax or a horse tax.

The AfD wants residents in Lower Saxony to no longer pay charges when their street is upgraded. It argues that everyone benefits from good roads while the charges place a heavy burden on individual residents.

Today, residents often have to pay when their street is rebuilt. The AfD wants to end these charges. It says good roads help everyone. So residents should not pay alone.

The AfD rejects Lower Saxony's new property tax law. It expects the law to raise the burden on citizens and total revenue to grow, contrary to what other parties promised.

Lower Saxony has changed its property tax rules. The AfD is against this. It thinks people will have to pay more.

The AfD wants to lower value-added tax and move to a single rate. It also plans to push at the federal level for a much simpler income tax code.

Today there are different VAT rates. The AfD wants only one rate. That rate should be lower. Income tax rules should also become simpler.

The AfD wants civil servants and officeholders to face criminal liability when they waste tax money. They would be held liable for intent or gross negligence, similar to managing directors in the private sector.

The AfD wants a new law. People in government who waste tax money should be punished. This should apply when someone acts on purpose or very carelessly.

The AfD wants tax relief for low and middle incomes and pensions, raising the tax-free allowance to at least 15,000 euros a year. Tax brackets should be tied to inflation, and double taxation of pensions should end.

The AfD wants lower taxes for small and middle incomes. People should pay no tax on the first 15,000 euros a year. This should also apply to pensions. When prices rise, taxes should not rise along with them automatically.

The AfD wants to enshrine in the Basic Law (Germany's constitution) that cash must be accepted and paid out throughout the economy. It sees cash as threatened by decisions at EU level and by a digital euro.

The AfD wants to protect cash. All shops and companies should have to accept cash. This should be written into the constitution. The AfD fears a digital euro will push cash aside.

The CDU wants to push for the reduced value-added tax rate for the hospitality sector to become permanent. Hotels and restaurants should also be able to recruit workers from outside the EU. The platform regards the sector as an important part of the economy.

Restaurants and hotels pay less sales tax right now. The CDU wants to keep it that way. These businesses should also be able to hire workers from outside the EU. The CDU wants to help them after the Covid period.

The CDU wants to keep the Schuldenbremse (constitutional debt brake), continue paying down debt and consolidate the state budget. It cites responsibility toward taxpayers and future generations as well as protection against inflation. At the same time, the budget is to focus on raising investment.

The CDU does not want new debt. It wants to keep the debt brake. That is a rule in the constitution against new debt. The state should spend carefully and pay off old debt. Still, more money should go to investment.

The CDU wants to modernize the division of tasks between the federal government and the states through a new federalism commission. The states are to get a larger share of indirect taxes and be allowed to set their own surcharges and discounts on tax rates. According to the platform, this is meant to promote competition among the states.

The CDU wants new rules on what the federal government does and what the states do. A commission will work on this. The states should get more money from certain taxes. They should be allowed to raise or lower tax rates a little.

The CDU wants to create a separate pension fund for newly hired state civil servants. Their retirement benefits are to be capital-funded, meaning paid from accumulated reserves. The state legislature is no longer to have access to this money.

The CDU wants a new fund for civil servants' pensions. It only covers newly hired state civil servants. The state will save money there for later. The state parliament may not take this money for other uses.

The CDU wants to pursue money laundering and organized tax crime more forcefully, using artificial intelligence and big-data technology in tax investigations. The tax administration is to work fully digitally and without paper. Citizens are to be able to communicate with tax offices easily and quickly.

The CDU wants to fight money laundering and large-scale tax fraud harder. Tax investigators will use artificial intelligence for this. Tax offices will work digitally and without paper. People should find it easier to contact the tax office.

The CDU wants to hand municipalities more money they can spend at their own discretion and to simplify funding procedures. The program argues that municipalities account for about two thirds of public investment in the state.

The CDU wants to give towns and villages more money. They should decide for themselves how to spend it. Applying for funding should become easier. One office should advise them on all funding programs.

The CDU wants to keep the debt brake and the existing rule for paying down old municipal debt. At the same time, the state and municipalities are to jointly support financially weak municipalities through a "partnership for the future."

The CDU wants to keep the debt brake. The debt brake limits new government debt. Poor towns should get help. The state and the towns should pay for this together.

The Greens want Lower Saxony to push at the federal level for a wealth tax and a reform of the inheritance tax. According to the program, people with very high incomes should contribute more to funding public tasks.

The Greens want a tax on large fortunes. Germany had this tax in the past. Lower Saxony should push for it in the Bundesrat. The tax on inheritances should also change. People who earn a great deal should pay more.

The Greens want to change the debt brake in the federal constitution and the state constitution so that more investment in climate protection and public services becomes possible. They consider a debt rule right in principle but regard the past focus on a balanced budget as a failure.

The debt brake limits new government debt. The Greens want to change this rule. The state should be able to spend more on climate protection. There should also be more money for schools and housing. The Greens will also look at emergency loans because of the climate crisis.

The Greens want to create a Niedersachsenfonds (Lower Saxony fund) that is to grow to ten billion euros with money from the capital market. It is to finance investment in climate-neutral public buildings, supply infrastructure and public services.

The Greens want a new fund for Lower Saxony. A fund is a large pot of money. The state puts in one billion euros. Borrowed money is added until it reaches ten billion euros. The money should make buildings climate-friendly.

The Greens want to introduce a state asset statement that shows the state's assets and its hidden obligations. Citizens should be able to see how finances, assets and future burdens develop.

The Greens want a new set of accounts for the state. It shows what the state owns. It also shows hidden debts. These include future pensions for civil servants. Then everyone can see how the money stands.

The Greens want to check every budget item in advance for whether it fits the 1.5-degree target and to commit the state's financial investments to climate neutrality by law. In addition, gender budgeting is to shape the budget so that it advances equality between the sexes.

The Greens want to check the state budget for climate protection. The budget is the plan for income and spending. The state should stop investing money in oil, gas and coal companies. The money should benefit all genders equally. The state should also issue green bonds.

The Greens want to strengthen the tax administration with more staff and better technology and set up an anonymous online portal for reporting tax offenses. At the federal level, share deals used to get around the real estate transfer tax are to be stopped.

The Greens want to act more firmly against tax fraud. Tax offices should get more staff and better technology. There should be a website for tips. People can report violations there without giving their name. Companies should no longer use tax tricks when buying buildings.

The Greens want to allow public-private partnerships (PPPs) only if they are reliably cheaper for taxpayers in the long run or bring added value. In transportation they are to be ruled out by law, and all PPP contracts are to be published.

Sometimes the state builds things together with private companies. This is called a public-private partnership, or PPP. The Greens want to allow this only rarely. For roads and transportation it should be banned. All PPP contracts should be public.

The Greens want to make the state bank Nord/LB less risky and turn it into a bank that mainly finances the energy transition and the transformation of the economy. Risky legacy holdings are to be wound down completely.

Nord/LB is a bank that mostly belongs to the state. The bank had big losses. The Greens want it to take fewer risks. It should mainly finance projects for climate and energy.

The Greens want savings banks and public companies to disclose what their executive boards and supervisory bodies are paid, because they work with public money. The savings bank law is to define the public-interest mission more precisely and tie it to climate goals.

Savings banks and state-owned companies work with public money. The Greens want more openness there. Everyone should be able to see what the bosses earn. Savings banks should also pay more attention to climate protection.

The Greens want the state to give municipalities more money through the fiscal equalization system and to change how it is distributed. According to the platform, Lower Saxony is below the national average here, and structurally weak municipalities are at a disadvantage.

Cities and towns get money from the state. The Greens want them to get more. The way the money is shared should also change. Poor towns should do better than today.

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 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 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.