"Krone" guest commentary

We have become a part-time republic

Christian Baha is a stock market expert and founded Austria's first stock exchange terminal in 1993, which delivers data in real time. In 1996, he established the world's first hedge fund for private investors. Baha has always pursued the vision of making funds for wealthy individuals accessible to smaller investors.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com)

During the election campaign, the blue economic program managed to surprise and create new momentum. Since then, campaigning politicians have been coming up with proposals on how to significantly reduce the burden on employees and companies. This is exactly what we voters should measure them against, as it is the only way to turn from the losers' lane back onto the winners' lane. After all, no other EU country has lost as much prosperity as Austria in the last five years.

Several parties now want to reduce the tax rate to below 40 percent and thus to a tolerable level. As some Krone readers commented in my column last week, this would require government spending to be reduced, net incomes to be increased and companies to be supported with a view to creating jobs. We have become a part-time republic precisely because performance is hardly worthwhile any more. Almost a third of all working Austrians currently do not work full-time. This is the second highest figure in the EU.

When it comes to tax cuts and relief, we need even more competition between the parties and fewer clumsy slogans in TV confrontations. Most recently, the state distributed annual subsidies amounting to 33.3 billion euros. The climate bonus for all and sundry (millionaires) alone cost us over four billion in 2022. In fact, there is still a wide range of expenditure that needs to be scrutinized: from minimum security to multi-billion euro NATO contributions for Sky Shield.