Like all major parties in this election campaign, the AfD also promises to leave the people of Germany with “more net of the gross”. However, their suggestions quickly make it clear which people this should primarily apply to. The AfD’s proposals primarily relieve the burden on the very richest in Germany.
The draft election program presents three central proposals that are intended to bring “more net”: a reduction in income tax, a reduction in corporate taxes and the abolition of the solidarity surcharge. For income tax, the basic allowance is to be increased from currently around 12,000 to 15,000 euros per year. Anyone who earns less than this allowance does not have to pay income tax at all.
This is a concession to workers who would benefit from such an increase. Above all, it is a smokescreen intended to distract from the fact that the rest of the program is one gift for the capital after the next. For example, the removal of the solidarity surcharge.
The solidarity surcharge is de facto a surcharge on income taxes or part of corporate taxes. But the vast majority of employees no longer pay him. Only those who earn more than 65,000 euros gross per year have to pay any of it. This means you are already one of the wealthiest 10 percent in Germany. Over 90 percent of the surcharge is paid by the richest 5 percent. Anyone who abolishes the solidarity surcharge only wants to “relieve the burden” on the highest earners in this country.
In addition to the richest employees, the AfD has a whole bunch of gifts in the bag, especially for companies. The planned reduction in corporate taxes has already been mentioned. In addition, the party wants to reduce “regulations to the necessary minimum”. For example, the packaging law, which is intended to encourage companies to use reusable packaging, should be abolished. Likewise the so-called supply chain law. It’s not just about the specific laws that should be changed or deleted: overall, the market should be given free rein to exploit and harm people and the environment as long as it is profitable.
While German capital is given a fat net profit, the poorest are left to pay. The AfD also wants to take aim at basic security and citizens’ money. Unemployment insurance is intended to exclude all those who “self-inflicted” their unemployment. Anyone who quits because of shabby working conditions should not receive a cent. Anyone who has paid social security contributions for less than three years or who is then unemployed for more than six months will not receive a cent. This is particularly an attack on young workers who are left empty-handed if they leave their jobs for any reason. Anyone who is unemployed for more than six months should be used for forced labor.
The opportunity for workers to change jobs should be restricted. With no alternative, they should be at the mercy of entrepreneurs. The party sells this as a fight against a “self-chosen life at the expense of the general public”. However, companies that choose to pollute our environment or heirs who make millions of dollars without lifting a finger should be given a free hand. The AfD also wants to finally abolish wealth tax – which is suspended anyway – and inheritance tax.
-It can also be calculated that it is primarily the rich who benefit from this. The Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) published calculations on this this week. They come to the conclusion that households with a gross income of less than 40,000 euros per year would receive around 1.7% relief from the AfD program. Households with more than 250,000 euros gross per year would have 7.7 percent more available at the end of the year. So they would benefit about four times more in relation to their income.
Before the 2021 federal election, ZEW also took a close look at the average economic situation of voters from the various parties. It came to the conclusion that voters from the FDP and the Greens would particularly benefit from the AfD’s proposals at the time. Voters of the Left – and the AfD – benefited the least.
The AfD likes to present itself as the “party of the little man”. In fact, it has a program for the benefit of the wealthy and the highest earners. That’s why it was right that the DGB unions mobilized to protest against the AfD party conference in Riesa last weekend. Anyone who wants to defend the interests of employees must also resist the neoliberal nightmare of the AfD.
At the same time, an above-average number of workers and unemployed people vote for the very party that wants to attack them. This certainly has something to do with the fact that many workers also fall victim to the party’s racist and anti-feminist agitation. But it is also because the AfD is the only force that manages to present itself as a serious alternative to the status quo. In contrast, all other parties appear to simply want to continue this status quo, which for many workers in Germany means impoverishment, precarization and fear of the future.
Of course the AfD wants that too. As has been shown, the AfD has absolutely no prospect of relieving the economic and social burden on the vast majority of Germans. Instead, through its focus on migration, it is distracting from the real beneficiaries of the crisis, namely the rich, whom it wants to give huge amounts of money to instead.
In view of this, it is the task of the social left to build a real alternative to the parties of the status quo, which range from the Left Party to the AfD. We want to put forward such an alternative with our candidacies for a world without borders, war and exploitation. The social workers Inés Heider (RIO/KGK) and Franziska Thomas (RSO) are running for office in Berlin and the midwife Leonie Lieb (RIO/KGK) in Munich. They are setting up a program against cuts and militarization and for billions in investments in education, health and social services by expropriating all billionaires.
