Tierschutzpartei on finance and taxes

The Tierschutzpartei wants to tax animal products at 19 percent or more instead of 7 percent. Plant-based foods and menstrual products would be taxed at no more than 7 percent and later not at all. It also calls for a one-time payment to offset inflation.

The party wants a higher tax on meat, milk and eggs. Plant-based food should be taxed less. Later this tax should end completely. Everyone should get a one-time payment because prices went up.

The sales tax rate on animal products would rise from 7 to at least 19 percent, which the platform justifies with their high true costs. Healthy plant-based foods and menstrual products would be taxed at 7 percent at most in the short term because they are basic needs. In the long term, sales tax on plant-based foods and other basic needs would be dropped, and food prices would be capped. A one-time inflation compensation payment is meant to make up for individuals' losses in recent years.

The Tierschutzpartei sees the debt brake as an obstacle to the shift toward more sustainability. Instead, it relies on a tax system that draws more on the wealthy and on investment in climate policy and other major challenges.

The debt brake limits new government debt. The party thinks it is too rigid. The state should spend more money on climate and the future. Rich people should pay more taxes for this.

The platform regards the debt brake as too inflexible for the transformation of the economy and public administration. For the federal budget, the party demands scrapping opaque special rules and breaks for corporations and curbing serious tax avoidance. The tax system should be simple and socially fair and more closely tied to ability to pay. Businesses settling in structurally weak regions should receive more support.

The Tierschutzpartei wants to raise the inheritance tax, especially on very large estates, and to tax great wealth. The exit tax should stay and go up. According to the platform, the aim is a fairer distribution of income, wealth, and economic power.

People who inherit very much should pay more tax. Very large fortunes should be taxed too. Rich people should not simply move abroad to save taxes. So the exit tax should go up.

The platform points out that over ten years, 32 billion euros went tax-free to 40 children under 14. Above an exemption threshold, the inheritance tax would rise and tax avoidance would be stopped. Fortunes in the millions and billions would be taxed to fund sustainable and social infrastructure and investment. The exit tax laid down in the Foreign Tax Act is meant to keep billionaires from moving their money abroad.

The Tierschutzpartei calls for a levy on speculative trading in financial products. Financial markets should be regulated and supervised more strictly across borders. The financial sector should serve the common good as well as returns.

The party wants a tax on trading stocks and similar products. This should slow down fast bets on the stock market. The money should go to climate protection and social support. Financial markets should get stricter rules.

The levy would cover derivatives, currencies, stocks, and commodities, among other things, and thereby dampen price swings. The party wants to use the revenue for climate protection, social safety nets, and other public tasks. According to the platform, high-risk speculation worsens economic crises. The financial industry should help fund the shift to a climate-neutral economy.

The Tierschutzpartei wants to fight tax flight, tax evasion and financial crime with considerably more staff. Wasting tax money by public bodies would be treated under criminal law like tax evasion.

The Tierschutzpartei wants to hire more tax investigators. They should uncover tax fraud better. Tax havens should be closed. These are countries with very low taxes. Officials who waste tax money should also be punished.

Closing tax havens is to become a top international goal of fiscal policy, with the EU and Germany pushing cooperation forward. The exit tax in the Foreign Tax Act is to be raised. Courts of audit would get much broader powers so that uncovered waste has consequences. The platform bases this on numerous leaks about legal, semi-legal and illegal tax avoidance.

The Tierschutzpartei wants to permanently tax what it sees as excessive profits of energy companies. The revenue is to fund the energy transition and ease the burden on consumers. At the same time, new jobs are to be created in renewable energy.

Electricity has been getting more expensive for years. The Tierschutzpartei says energy companies still earn a lot. They should pay a lasting extra tax on that. The party wants to use the money for clean energy and to help customers.

The platform justifies the tax with electricity prices that have risen for years while company profits stayed high. Energy and heat are no longer to depend on fossil resources. Because jobs in the fossil industry will disappear, more jobs are to be created in building and running renewable installations.