The CDU’s Economic Council has stepped up pressure on the federal government, demanding a new “Agenda for workers”. In a reform proposal reported by “Bild am Sonntag”, the entrepreneurs’ association-counting more than 13 000 members-calls for steep tax cuts and a trimming of social contributions by eliminating several benefits.
Secretary‑General Wolfgang Steiger told the newspaper that the fact that over three million people are currently unemployed signals that the government must now do everything possible to restore the promise of upward mobility and unlock growth forces.
Key proposals to lighten the tax burden include:
” a noticeable increase in the basic tax exemption,
” a delayed implementation of the top marginal tax rate,
” an automatic inflation adjustment of the income tax,
” the abolition of the solidarity surcharge even for high‑income earners,
” and a reduction of the corporate tax to 25 %.
To stop further increases in social contributions, the council urges the government to scrupulously cut benefits:
” Unemployment benefits should be capped at one year,
” pensions that give preferential treatment to specific groups-such as the maternity pension, the 63‑year‑old pension, and the basic pension-should be abolished,
” and the statutory retirement age should be tied to life expectancy, rising beyond the current threshold of 67 years.
In statutory health insurance, the agenda proposes a review of the benefit catalogue, with dental care to be removed from compulsory coverage and instead left to private insurance. Accident insurance should no longer cover mishaps that occur while commuting to work.
Other measures the council favors include lowering energy costs for all citizens, easing home‑ownership (notably by scrapping the real‑estate transfer tax), and reducing bureaucracy across the board.
Steiger criticises the SPD, saying it has “morphed into a party that serves the interests of transfer recipients” and that it has “lost support from workers and employees in a frightening way”. He warns that this could also endanger the CDU if the SPD continues to push its ideas. An overwhelming tax and contribution burden, he argues, erodes the prospects for upward mobility among the hardworking middle class. For this reason, the Economic Council insists on an agenda that rewards performance and renews the promise of progress.