According to calculations by the Federation of Taxpayers (BdSt), the next federal government will have an additional annual budget of up to 40 billion euros due to the planned changes in the debt brake and special assets. This was reported by the “Bild” in its Monday edition, citing Union and SPD plans to create “short-term room for additional expenditures of around 30 to 40 billion euros per year.” This room is expected to arise, in part, from the modification of the debt brake in the Defense Ministry’s budget.
At the same time, the national debt, interest burden and reform backlog are expected to increase. “These new debt packages are a catastrophe for a solid, sustainable and intergenerational financial policy” said the BdSt’s president, Reiner Holznagel. The association’s head demanded structural reforms in social security systems and the tax system to save billions of euros and finance planned increased expenditures for the federal military and infrastructure by doing so.