The federal and state governments tried to take a major step toward agreement in financial equalization negotiations on Monday. Observers saw the fact that Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) was also invited to the extraordinary conference of state governors in Vienna as a sign that agreement could be reached on crucial points. After the conference, the Governor of Carinthia, Peter Kaiser (SPÖ), quoted Galileo Galilei: “And yet it moves.”
The Chairman of the Conference of State Governors announced that there was now a newer offer from the Federal Government that was significantly better than the previous one from the Minister of Finance. In total, there is now an amount of just over two billion euros in “fresh money”, as Kaiser and his Vorarlberg counterpart Markus Wallner (ÖVP) stated. The so-called Future Fund, which was recently brought into play by Finance Minister Brunner, was also central to the negotiations. As reported, part of the distributed tax revenue will go through this fund. This must be filled with funds for climate, childcare and housing. The amount of funding has not yet been determined. The idea behind it is that there are defined and measurable objectives in the three areas in each state. If the states achieve this, more money should come from the federal government.
However, so far we know nothing other than “front page news,” explains Viennese Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ). “We see it as positive that there is a step towards the states and municipalities. But we are still far from a conclusion,” Ludwig continued. At the same time, the SPÖ mayor emphasized that the states’ demands for new financial resources were based on research results from well-known institutes such as Wifo. The new dynamics should also be taken into account in the vertical distribution key.
Vienna complains about “unilateral interventions” by the federal government
At the same time, Ludwig complained about “unilateral interventions” by the federal government in the tax system, which had a negative impact on the revenues of the states. The mayor used the abolition of cold progression as an example. For Vienna, this ‘intervention’ means a loss of income of approximately one billion euros.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
