During his keynote speech in Wels, Chancellor Karl Nehammer lays the foundation stones for the upcoming elections for the National Council. The ÖVP boss relies on performance and family.
It is a kind of unofficial start to the election campaign. Chancellor and ÖVP leader Karl Nehammer will give a keynote speech in Wels on Friday and explain his positions for the upcoming election campaign.
Austria is among the top 3 countries in Europe in terms of taxes and duties
The ÖVP leans heavily on the issue of tax cuts. After all, Austria is one of the top three countries in Europe in terms of taxes and levies. In addition to reducing the input tax rate from 20 percent to 15 percent, overtime should be completely exempt from tax, as the ‘Krone’ learned in advance. Currently they have only been postponed. This would benefit not least police officers and soldiers, but also the many people in health and care institutions.
At the same time, additional labor costs must also be reduced. Nehammer foresees a reduction trajectory of 0.5 percent per year in 2030. In concrete terms, contributions to unemployment insurance must be reduced and part of the contributions for the family burden equalization fund (FLAF) must be transferred to the federal budget. The first should be financed through a restructuring of unemployment benefits.
Return to the social market economy
The ÖVP claims that it wants to move away from the interventionism and statism of the past four years of crisis and return to the social market economy. The goal is to reduce subsidies and rely instead on guarantees and incentives. However, this is not reflected in the current budget for the coming years. At 43.2 percent, Austria not only has the third highest tax rate in Europe, but at the same time we continue to accrue new debt.
The Budget Council critically notes in its latest report: The budget trajectory for 2023 and 2024 continues to foresee high budget deficits of 2.5 and 2.3 percent of economic output, despite the abolition of crisis-related measures. Despite high nominal GDP growth, the debt ratio will decline only slightly until 2027.
NEOS: “Who should believe that?”
NEOS MP Gerald Loacker gives correspondingly cynical comments on the ÖVP’s announcements. “Who will believe that? After 37 years of ÖVP in government, taxes are very high. And the very party that did this to us should reduce this?”
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.
