- 2010-09-09
UK Pre-Budget Report To Be Scrapped - 2010-09-08
EUR25bn In French Tax Breaks May Go - 2010-09-09
Europe Agrees Regulatory Reforms, But Not Taxes - 2010-09-07
Increased Case Load Challenges US Taxpayer Advocate - 2010-09-06
German Cabinet Agrees 'Future Package' - 2010-09-03
South Africa Rejects Mining Tax - 2010-09-06
Report Casts Doubt On Jersey Fiscal Strategy - 2010-09-06
Switzerland Adopts Administrative Assistance Ordinance - 2010-09-08
UK Launches National Insurance Holiday - 2010-09-08
Tax Credits Boosting Employment, Says US Govt - 2010-09-03
METI Sets Out Japanese Tax Reform Proposals - 2010-09-03
DIFC Announces Strong Growth In 2010 - 2010-09-08
Caribbean Intensifies Lobbying Against UK Air Tax - 2010-09-09
Panama Expands Tax Agreement Network - 2010-09-07
EU Business Slams China's Business Tax - 2010-09-06
Pakistan Looks At 'Flood' Taxes - 2010-09-07
S. Korea Improves Free Zone Incentives - 2010-09-03
Obama's Tax Reform Panel Issues Report
Tax News 5 : 2010-09-06
German Cabinet Agrees 'Future Package'
The German cabinet has approved its highly controversial EUR80bn 'future package' (Zukunftspaket), containing a raft of austerity measures designed to consolidate the public finances thereby promoting sustainable growth, and including significant cuts in social spending and rises in tax revenues.
Among key fiscal measures contained in the future package, provided for in the supplementary budget law, is the introduction of a new airline tax levied at EUR8, EUR25, or EUR45 per passenger, depending on the destination, due to apply from 2011. The government also plans to reduce existing eco tax breaks available to German industry, thereby generating around EUR1bn a year.
Bowing to pressure from the country’s energy giants, the finance ministry has, however, confirmed that a decision regarding the introduction of a nuclear fuel tax will be postponed until the end of September. The proposed levy, expected to generate an annual EUR2.3bn for the government, will not now form part of the supplementary budget law as previously planned, but will be included as part of the government’s energy concept. Negotiations with the energy companies concerned are ongoing.
Defending the government’s plans, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble warned that it would still be years before the country’s economy returns to its pre-crisis level. The measures contained in the law are designed to enable the government to adhere to the country’s debt brake rule from 2011 and to reduce the country’s structural deficit from almost EUR50bn currently to around EUR10bn by 2016.
The supplementary budget law is due to be presented to the German parliament at the same time as the 2011 budget bill.