Friedrich Merz views his government through rose-colored glasses; otherwise, his enthusiasm for the "major reform" decided by the federal government cannot be understood.
There can be no talk of leaps or giant steps, states the state chairwoman of the FDP Saar, Angelika Hießerich-Peter, in an initial comment. The so-called tax reliefs of ten billion euros must be seen in relation to the total tax revenue of around one trillion euros. "To make the 'achievement' of the government clear once: In relation, just one slim euro is saved out of every hundred euros! That is ridiculous!" says Hießerich-Peter. "The term 'small-scale tinkering' does not do justice to this little reform." There is no sign of a push or willingness to reform. She names some significant examples to illustrate this.
For the FDP Saar, it is still true that the middle class is the backbone of the German economy. An increase in the cost of 'mini-jobs', on which the service sector relies millions of times, is already taking place due to the planned pension reform. Now the federal government is going even further and raises the flat-rate taxation of 'mini-jobs' from two to five percent. These costs solely affect the employers, thus representing a further increase in labor costs. As if that were not enough, the reduction of the tax deductibility of craftsmen's services also burdens small and medium-sized enterprises.
In terms of reducing bureaucracy, the grand coalition is simply adopting in many places what the Free Democrats have been demanding for years – and this is to be explicitly welcomed. It is overdue that the approval fiction becomes the standard, that reporting and documentation obligations are broadly eliminated, that supply chain bureaucracy is limited to a few large companies, and that the federal administration is to be streamlined by eight percent. Also overdue is the acceleration of the expansion of the power grid with a binding connection guarantee for industry and the urgently needed streamlining of the
