As part of the anti-inflation package, the government is praising its “billion in relief”: workers will be freed from a total of about a billion in tax deductions. However, the parliament’s budget department complained that its own calculations would yield significantly less. The Treasury Department of Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) strongly disagrees.
The criticism of the budget service is “incomprehensible”, a statement said – especially because the budget service has not made its calculations public. The budget controllers spoke of a “considerably lower volume of reception”, but did not indicate in their report how high the reception actually turned out to be.
Department sticks to its own calculation
In any case, the Ministry of Finance is sticking to its calculation, which, based on the most recently available payroll tax statistics, would have led to a volume of approximately one billion euros for the housing tax credit. Due to the increase in social security, more employees enjoy the full deduction of 500 euros. Together with the strong employment and wage developments, this would increase the costs and the reception volume of the measure.
The ministry also emphasizes that the size of the anti-inflation package depends on assumptions, such as inflation developments, and is therefore subject to change. In total, the package should reach a volume of 28.6 billion euros by 2026.
NEOS criticizes ‘relief fairy tale’
Of this, only 6.8 billion would have an effect in the short term, the rest only from next year, NEOS social spokesman Gerald Loacker complains. This “fairy tale of great relief” is the next chapter of an unfair policy, he criticized on a broadcast. However, citizens are already noticing every day that life is becoming more and more expensive. However, the government only pays out “ineffective one-off payments, the effect of which immediately fades,” says Loacker.
FPÖ business spokesman Erwin Angerer follows a similar line. The government’s measures would only combat the symptoms, but the causes had to be addressed: “Given the ever-rising electricity prices, the state is obliged to finally intervene in the pricing policies of the electricity companies, which are currently bringing in billions.” in profit, while the people of Austria fear that it will freeze in their own houses in winter”.
Source: Krone
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