BERLIN – German Finance Minister Christian Lindner is planning a double digit-billion euro relief package for businesses including easing the tax burden as part of efforts to spur economic growth, Spiegel magazine reported on Friday.
A finance ministry spokesperson said Lindner was considering a relief package but the size and scope of the measures were still being worked out.
“The statement that a double-digit billion volume is being planned is therefore incorrect at this point in time,” the spokesperson said in response to the Spiegel report.
According to Spiegel, Lindner wants to ease taxes on the profits of private companies as well as provide tax incentives for companies that invest in climate protection, among other measures. The minister plans to present the key points of his plan at the end of March, the magazine said without citing sources.
Europe’s biggest economy shrank slightly in the fourth quarter of last year and the European Commission forecasts it will grow by just 0.2% this year.
Spiegel said Lindner wants to reduce the taxation of private companies, if the money is reinvested. At the moment, the tax rate for listed companies is half that charged for private companies, an imbalance that Lindner wants to correct.
Business daily Handelsblatt reported that a simplification was being considered. As well as incentives for investing in climate protection, Spiegel reported there would be more advantageous depreciation rules for digitalization projects. Lindner also wants to make the tax loss carryforward, which companies use to spread losses over future years to reduce taxes, more generous.
The relief package will be known as the “Competition Strengthening Act”, Handelsblatt said. Investment incentives could be introduced at the beginning of 2024, according to the paper.
A second component of the Competitiveness Strengthening Act would be to boost research funding provided by the government for companies, Handelsblatt reported.
(Reporting by Holger Hansen, Writing by Maria Martinez and Miranda Murray, editing by Kirsti Knolle and Susan Fenton)
