"Krone" Commentary

How the proposed budget could go wrong…

Markus Marterbauer took more than 1.5 hours to explain his budget.(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

Now even the finance minister himself doubts that the budget he presented on Wednesday for the years 2027 and 2028 will hold up. Yes, who would have thought? 

Everyone! Because no economic researcher dares to make a definitive forecast for this almost eternally long period. Fortune-tellers, crystal ball readers, and other magicians would be in higher demand—they’re more likely to venture a prediction about what lies in store for the world and Austria by the end of 2028.

Their forecasts will likely be just as accurate—or just as inaccurate—as those of the finance minister. And so we were served a budget that might just work out. Or maybe not...

Commentary on the major issues affecting Austria: Klaus Herrmann, Executive Editor-in-Chief(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Imre Antal, stock.adobe.com)

In March, when the great optimism that had prevailed just a short time before—the expectation that taxes would be pouring in this year and in the coming years thanks to the booming economy—had already begun to fade all around due to the war in Iran, the finance minister responded to the question of whether—given that global – had not increased and whether a double budget was still a good idea at all: “Fundamentally, it was a very good idea.”

However, the idea hasn’t gotten any better since March. Warlord Donald Trump regularly announces to the world that the war will be over in a few days. It just isn’t happening. And so neither oil nor tax revenues are pouring in.

We don’t know what will happen tomorrow. But does the finance minister know what he’ll have at his disposal in 30 months?

That could go wrong. But we’re dreaming along with Mr. Marterbauer that his calculations will work out—after all, even based on his optimistic estimate, they’re already costing us more than enough.