Record German budget approved
November 23, 2018
Germany's lower house of parliament on Friday gave the green light to a budget that raises planned spending for next year to €356.4 billion ($405.2 billion), an increase of €13 billion over 2018.
After three days of heated debate, parliamentarians passed the budget by a vote of 366-284 with no abstentions.
Owing to rising tax revenue, the coalition government of Chancellor Angela Merkel, comprising her Christian Democratic Union, its Bavarian sister party the CSU, and the Social Democrats (SPD), plans to do without any new net borrowing for a sixth year running, a strategy known in Germany as the "schwarze Null" ("black zero").
The "black zero" has been criticized in some quarters as unnecessary austerity implemented at the cost of investment in education, housing and public infrastructure.
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Welfare, defense, families, aid
The budget foresees more money for social welfare, families, defense and development aid. Among other things, families are to receive €10 more as child allowances, on top of the current €194-€200 per month depending on how many children parents raise.
It also contains changes to tax brackets to compensate for inflation.
The largest portion of money, €145.3 billion, is allotted to the labor and social sector, partly in the form of pension payments.
The business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) have criticized the welfare spending embedded in the budget as too high. However, the party, which is not generally known for a focus on social topics, called for €181 million more to help disadvantaged children, according to the daily Rheinische Post.
The party's proposal envisaged abolishing the daily €1 fee paid by children for school lunches, as well as raising subsidies for school materials and cultural and activities, the paper said.
Opposition criticism
The Green party said that the budget contained too few climate-protection measures, while the Left Party criticized the fact that Germany's economic boom has failed to trickle down to Germany's poorer residents.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), whose member Peter Böhringer chairs the Bundestag's budget committee, has claimed that the government has left out certain items to balance the books.
'Soli' remains for some
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz from the SPD rejected calls from some conservatives to completely abolish the so-called solidarity surcharge, which was originally introduced to finance costs caused by German reunification in 1990, within this legislature period.
The coalition has agreed to abolish the tax, known in German as the "Soli," for 90 percent of those who currently pay it, resulting in tax losses of €10 billion.
Scholz said exempting the remaining 10 percent of taxpayers would reduce tax revenue by a further €10 billion, as this group contained some of the highest earners in Germany.
tj/sms (dpa, )