The traffic light had to make many compromises with the Growth Opportunities Act. The Federal Council has now agreed.
The Federal Council has approved the Federal Government’s Growth Opportunities Act. In the state chamber’s vote on Friday, there was a clear majority in favor of the law, which was initially rejected by the Union in protest against the removal of subsidies for agricultural diesel. The path is now clear for the planned tax relief for companies.
Originally it was supposed to be an all-round blow worth billions for all industries, which would provide relief for companies in the economic downturn and encourage investments in climate protection. Lindner had proposed almost 50 tax policy measures. Essentially: a bonus for climate protection investments, plus tax support for research, better offsetting of losses and the reduction of bureaucratic hurdles.
The Federal Council blocked the package passed by the Bundestag with the argument that states and municipalities would have to shoulder a large part of the costs and tax losses. The state chamber therefore called the mediation committee. In initial discussions, the negotiating partners reduced the volume of relief from the previously planned 7 billion euros annually to 3.2 billion euros.
Basically, all that was left was a light version – primarily tax relief and incentives to stimulate the construction industry. The climate protection investment bonus, originally the core of the law, has been overturned. SPD-led states were satisfied with the slimmed-down solution, but the Union made an additional condition for its approval: the SPD, Greens and FDP would have to forego the abolition of the tax relief for agricultural diesel for farmers, which the Bundestag had already decided on.
Shortly before the Federal Council meeting, the federal government announced a series of measures to relieve the burden on agriculture in a statement in the minutes.
