Kretschmer on agreement: Municipalities completely relieved

Saxony's Minister President Michael Kretschmer hopes that the agreement on sharing the costs of the planned investment package will provide significant impetus. "I expressly welcome the fact that the federal government is completely relieving the municipalities and noticeably relieving the states," the CDU politician told the German Press Agency. The agreement is an important contribution to Germany as a business location and its ability to act.

"What matters now is that the funds reach the local level unbureaucratically, purposefully and quickly - for the benefit of the people in our country," emphasized Kretschmer. The promised participation of the federal government in the debt relief of highly indebted municipalities and the relief of the East German states in the financing of special pensions from the GDR era are particularly important.

The federal and state governments had agreed on a distribution of the costs of the planned investment program for the economy. At issue is a package of tax relief for the economy, which the Bundestag is to decide on Thursday. However, the plans would result in a loss of revenue for the federal, state and local governments due to falling taxes. The federal states, without whose approval the package cannot go ahead, are therefore demanding financial compensation from the federal government, especially for the municipalities, some of which are heavily indebted.