(de-news.net) – Robert Habeck, the Green Party’s chancellor candidate, has advanced a proposal to enhance Germany’s appeal for newly established top-tier enterprises. In a guest article for the “Handelsblatt,” he advocated for the reduction of bureaucratic requirements for nascent businesses during their formative years and the simplification of the founding process by enabling companies to be established online through a single portal. Additionally, he proposed the implementation of investment premiums and improved tax incentives for research to render the tax system more conducive to innovation.
Habeck delineated an economic agenda centered on catalyzing a new wave of innovation and entrepreneurship in Germany. For startups, he recommended improved access to venture capital, the advancement of the European capital market union, and the introduction of a citizen fund within the pension system to invest in emerging European firms. His agenda further encompassed embracing new technologies, the relaxation of data protection regulations, and a substantial increase in investments in education, science, and research through the establishment of a new Germany fund and a reform of the debt brake.
Meanwhile, Habeck advocated for the inclusion of capital gains from social security contributions in order to broaden the statutory health insurance’s contribution base and foster solidarity within the system, criticizing current exemptions. The SdK, whose aim is to protect investors, dismissed Habeck’s proposal, which would impose social contributions on interest and dividends, asserting it would adversely affect the middle class, particularly those saving for retirement, self-employed individuals, and entrepreneurs. Millionaires would remain unaffected due to contribution limits. Jens Spahn (CDU) criticized the proposal, arguing it would impact millions of savers and businesses, thereby stifling economic performance. The FDP’s Marco Buschmann and CSU chairman Markus Söder also expressed opposition, with Söder highlighting the Greens’ intention to target people’s savings. SPD’s Lauterbach proposed involving privately insured individuals in solidarity before imposing additional burdens on public health insurance members’ retirement savings.
On the other hand, the Social Association of Germany (SoVD) endorsed Habeck’s proposal to subject capital gains to social security contributions, contending that it constituted a fair distribution policy. SoVD chairwoman Michaela Engelmeier asserted that the inclusion of other income sources, such as rental or capital income, was imperative for the financing of health insurance, as the rising additional contributions disproportionately burden lower and middle incomes.
