Electricity tax: Left leader Pantisano and CDU's Rhein step up pressure on Klingbeil
After the state premiers' call, the Left Party and Hesse's premier demand a swift cut for all. The finance minister sees no room despite higher tax revenue.
Archive image · Photo: Leonhard Lenz / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (cropped and resized)
After Germany's state premiers called for an electricity tax cut for all consumers, pressure is mounting on Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) from both the left and the conservatives. Left Party leader Luigi Pantisano welcomed Thursday's decision: “The affordability crisis has finally reached the state premiers.” The cut would be “a right and overdue step,” he told the Rheinische Post. The premiers also demanded a swift proposal for the announced fuel price cap.
Pantisano accused Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government of worsening the crisis itself. “The cuts to the welfare state must be stopped,” he said. He called for measures against the housing shortage, a cap on oil companies' profit margins and the return of the 9-euro public transport ticket. “The financial room for this exists if large fortunes and corporations are finally taxed properly.”
Hesse's Minister-President Boris Rhein (CDU) is also pushing. “I demand that the electricity tax be cut for everyone to the European minimum,” he told the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, noting that the cut is firmly agreed in the coalition agreement: “People need noticeable relief on electricity costs, and they need it now.” According to the tax estimate, the federal government can expect an extra 4.1 billion euros in 2027. Klingbeil nevertheless said he saw no new fiscal room.