Fewer taxes

Expert on Nehammer’s plan: “How is that supposed to work?”

Federal Chancellor and ÖVP leader Karl Nehammer at the presentation of the "Austria Plan"(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

On Friday, ÖVP chairman Karl Nehammer presented his "Austria Plan" with particular vigor and in the style of an army officer. Fiscal Council President Christoph Badelt has now added his two cents - and expressed his concern.

The 80 pages of Nehammer's pompously announced plan promise tax relief, more property and "performance must be worthwhile". Are they too good to be true?

Fiscal Council President Christoph Badelt would probably answer this with a cautious "maybe" - because he misses measures for counter-financing, for example. The proposals put forward by the ÖVP leader in his speech on Friday, such as a reduction in non-wage labor costs or tax rates, are not matched by any savings measures, Badelt said depressingly on Ö1's "Mittagsjournal".

Federal Chancellor and ÖVP leader Karl Nehammer at the presentation of the "Austria Plan"(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

"As head of the Fiscal Council, this fills me with concern." The same also applies to the plans of other parties such as the SPÖ and FPÖ. These would also result in massive additional expenditure or reduced revenue for the budget. "As someone who keeps an eye on public finances, I ask myself: how is this supposed to work?" says Badelt. He is not saying that it is impossible - but you just have to explain it.

Nehammer's "Austria plan"

• Tax burden: Nehammer wants to reduce the first tax bracket, make overtime tax-free and abolish all fees and taxes on the first home.
• Equal rights: His move to ban gendering from public administration also caused some debate.
• Climate: Nehammer wants tougher penalties for climate offenders. When it comes to environmental protection, he relies on "common sense" and remains true to his narrative of Austria as a "car country": instead of bans or "excessive regulations", Nehammer promises "green mobility".
• Performance: After four years of global crises, Nehammer wants to return to a social market economy. To achieve this, he promises the economy less bureaucracy, regulations and a stronger capital market.
• Integration: "If you want to live in Austria, you have to live according to our values" and "Integration means adaptation", as stated in the "Austria Plan".

Already a sizeable hole in the budget
Austria already has a budget deficit of 2.7 percent of GDP. According to Badelt, the government's plans for well into the next legislative period envisage a similar deficit. And he was already concerned about these figures - if additional expenditure or revenue shortfalls were planned, this would become a problem. The economist said that the most important thing was to keep public budgets in balance. Without a presentation of the counter-financing, relief proposals would "float in empty space".

Badelt had no objections to a reduction in non-wage labor costs in and of itself on Saturday. The labor factor was too heavily burdened - but it was about the tax structure and the counter-financing. He would have liked to see "more courage" from the ÖVP in the area of pensions. There is no mention of a sustainable pension reform in the Austrian plan - although pension expenditure would be more than 50 times as high as that for social welfare.

Babler again warns against a blue-black coalition
SPÖ leader Andreas Babler warned again on Ö1's "Journal zu Gast" against a blue-black coalition after the national elections. This was also evident in Nehammer's speech on Friday. "You could see yesterday that the ÖVP almost proposed marriage to the FPÖ as a junior partner in terms of the program headings and also the tonality."