Upper House Approves Pension Tax Plan

Germany's upper house, the Bundesrat, on Friday approved a new pension taxation law that will now go into effect on Jan. 1, 2005. The bill had been proposed by the governing coalition of Social Democrats and Greens and passed the parliamentary chamber that represents the 16 German states with the support of Hamburg and Saxony, where Christian Democrats are in power. Christian Democrats however had earlier voted against the law in the lower house, the Bundestag. According to the plan, pensions will be taxed increasingly until they are fully taxed by 2040. But payments for old-age care will be tax free.