Status: 08/21/2022 12:31 p.m
NRW Prime Minister Wüst has called for measures to relieve pensioners and students. To finance further relief for the citizens, Greens leader Nouripour proposed a reform of the company car privilege.
The Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wüst, is pushing for benefits for pensioners and students in the planned third relief package. They have been forgotten so far and should benefit from the next relief package, said Wüst in the “Bild am Sonntag”. The state’s answer to the situation of pensioners “cannot be the board. That would be cynical,” said the CDU politician. Wüst’s statements did not indicate what specific measures he envisaged.
People who have little money at their disposal should not be left in the lurch. “The relief packages that have been decided so far have a clear imbalance in the treatment of non-employed people such as retired people,” Wüst continued. It is “hard to convey that pensioners are excluded from paying the energy money”.
In view of persistent inflation and high energy prices, the federal government is planning a third relief package, which is to be presented shortly. In a first step, the EEG levy was abolished and a heating subsidy for housing benefit recipients and tax breaks were decided. The relief measures in the second step include the 9-euro ticket for local transport, which expires at the end of August, the fuel discount, the energy flat-rate of 300 euros for employed persons who are dependent on income, a one-time payment of 100 euros per child and 200 euros for recipients Recipients of social benefits.
Nouripour for reform of the company car privilege
Greens leader Omid Nouripour brought a reduction in climate-damaging subsidies into play to finance additional relief for citizens. “A reform of the company car privilege is overdue,” Nouripour told the dpa news agency. Such subsidies would have to be specifically designed to be environmentally friendly. Two thirds of the privileged company cars are cars with more than 200 hp. It’s about incorporating climate effects into company car taxation – and about incentives for zero-emission cars, according to Nouripour.
If you can also use your company car privately, you have what is known as a pecuniary benefit that must be taxed. If no logbook is kept, the monthly flat rate is one percent of the gross list price of the vehicle. According to the Federal Environment Agency, the actual monetary benefit for the user is often significantly higher. According to this, the state evades taxes of at least three billion euros annually. Environmental groups have been calling for a reform of the company car tax privilege for a long time.
Bartsch calls for “winter money” for private households
The Left Party demands direct relief for everyone. “A winter allowance for all private households would be right: 1,500 euros and 600 euros for each additional household member,” said Dietmar Bartsch, leader of the Left Party, to the “Rheinische Post”. Pensioners and students would also benefit from this, “who generally do not have a bed of roses”.
Bartsch accused the traffic light parties of inactivity and cynicism in the relief debate. “It’s five past twelve. Instead of getting on people’s nerves with cynical savings tips and embarrassing discussions about washcloths, the traffic light parties must present an effective third relief package at the end of the parliamentary summer break, which also takes pensioners and students into account,” he said. These groups are “so far negligently forgotten”.
“If the traffic light persists in its permanent discussions, which help in no time at all with the cost explosions, the failure to provide aid would tear the country apart,” said Bartsch. His comment on washcloths referred to a statement by Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann, who had advised people to use a washcloth instead of taking a shower to save energy.