Overview

• Chancellor Friedrich Merz told the CDU in Osnabrück he will not raise income taxes on medium-sized companies and called the current social model no longer affordable.
• Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil ordered all ministries to submit savings plans for the 2027 budget, citing more than €30 billion in that year and about €172 billion through 2029.
• Saarland premier Anke Rehlinger backed debating higher taxes on top earners and revisiting inheritance tax rules that allow very low effective burdens on large estates.
• Rhineland-Palatinate’s Alexander Schweitzer urged greater contributions from multi‑millionaires and referenced past higher top rates and a former wealth tax to argue capacity to pay.
• The government set up a Sozialstaatskommission under Bärbel Bas to develop proposals on Bürgergeld, Wohngeld and Kinderzuschlag from September with results due by end‑2025.