The eXXpress interview with NEOS MP Gerald Loacker is all about the current wave of inflation. Loacker was unusually honest for a politician. He refrained from making false promises: “The state cannot absorb everything that happens.” It would be honest to tell people that too. “Not every negative event can be absorbed by the taxpayer community because we as taxpayers cannot absorb ourselves.”
However, Loacker also explained how the burden on citizens could be relieved in a much more sustainable and comprehensive way than, in his opinion, the government’s measures have done so far.
What is needed would be a real tax reform that starts with wage and income tax. That would also make more sense than a strong wage increase, as recently with the metalworkers, since a large part of the higher income migrates to the finance minister via taxes. With the wage increase, people’s money migrates “to where they pay more taxes”. One problem here is the cold progression. If it were abolished, the tax-free portion of the salary would remain the same.
To solve the problem, the government would have to “delete a half-sentence in the income tax law”. The NEOS have made this proposal several times so far, most recently on Wednesday – so far without success. The measure would also be possible retrospectively for January 1 of this year. In the end, people would have more of their salary.
The fact is that the Minister of Finance does not have to complain about low tax revenues: “Last year was a record tax year, never before have so many taxes been paid.”
The government has currently reduced some taxes, but only for a limited period of time until the first half of 2023 – because three important state elections are also taking place during this time. The same applies to the temporary reduction in the commuter allowance.
The NEOS MP was concerned about the industry, which – in contrast to the Corona period – is now suffering very badly because it needs a lot of energy. “Once a country has the industry, it doesn’t come back.”
The Corona management also received criticism: “We spent three billion euros on testing and the same course of the pandemic as other countries that have not tested nearly as much.”
When asked about NEOS’ desire for a speech by Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in parliament and the fears that this would not be compatible with neutrality, Loacker emphasized: “Austria is militarily neutral, but not morally neutral. We cannot be non-neutral between a country that starts a war and the country that is attacked. If Austria were attacked, we would also expect others to show solidarity with us, neutrality or not.”
In this exciting “10 to 8” interview, Loacker talks about all of this – and other measures, sensible and less sensible.
