German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 19/215, pp.
27177-27178.
Right honorable Frau President. Ladies and gentlemen.
The Federal government’s draft law on the Council’s
guidelines of December 2019 and the guidelines of July 2020 for excise taxes [Verbrauchsteuern] is now put forward.
Germany is obligated to implement these structural and systemic guidelines.
From this results wide-ranging changes and complications in the excise taxes.
Considerable additional financial expenditures are to be figured for business
and administration, especially for customs.
Unfortunately, once again, no deconstruction of bureaucracy
is to be expected from this Federal government. Praised be the British, who
have withdrawn from this utter wasteland!
Timon Gremmels
(SPD): Then go to Great Britain!
Bettina
Stark-Watzinger (FDP): The taxes will certainly increase in Great Britain!
There is nevertheless an increased workload for customs without
a corresponding expansion of digital equipment or personnel in EP 08. The
customs administration consists of the general customs direction with a headquarters
in Bonn, 42 headquarters customs officials and 252 customs officials as well as
8 customs inspection officials. Around 39,000 co-workers are employed by the
customs. How many additional positions need to be created so as to accomplish
the new duties? Which reduced expenditures and improvements will be attained by
means of the planned digitalization of the excise taxes? How will the digital
procedures be secured? Which defense is there against hacker attacks? What
happens during a blackout?
For all that, the AfD principally wants to relieve the taxpayers.
A new tax system analogous to Professor Kirchoff’s proposal of 2011 – for long,
long is it here – would be desirable. Unfortunately, that is only to be dreamed
of. If the Federal government has not wanted to carry out a major tax reform
and reduce the 36 types of tax to a few, one initial, positive step would be
the abolition of the bagatelle taxes. To these belong the sparkling wines tax
with a revenue of 377 million euros, introduced in the time of the Kaisers to
finance the Navy, the alcoholic soft drinks with 1 million euros, the interim
products tax with 17 million euros, the air travel tax, introduced in 2018 as a
control tax, with 1.2 billion euros, and especially the coffee tax, introduced
in July 1953, with a revenue of 1 billion euros. Coffee is for long no more a
luxury product as in the 18th Century, but counts as an in-demand foodstuff;
that, you yourselves have said. The coffee tax even recognizes two tax rates,
for roast coffee and soluble coffee, and will in addition be subject to the
turnover tax, an inadmissible tax upon a tax.
In Europe, only Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Lithuania, Norway
and Switzerland still levy these taxes. It becomes high time that these taxes,
the raising of which is more expensive than what they bring in, were abolished.
In the past, there is the abolition of various excise taxes: The ice cream tax –
who still remembers it? – : 1972, acetic acid tax: 1980, match and playing card
tax: 1981, light bulb tax: 1993, tea tax: 1993, salt tax: 1993,
Sebastian
Brehm (CDU/CSU): Abolished!
– exactly – also abolished. In taxes and duties is Germany a
leader, and according to the OECD has even dislodged Belgium from first place.
I come to a conclusion. Thus, dear Federal government:
Finally for once do something for the taxpayer. Even when it is only a small
step: It relieves the citizen. He is still fleeced much too much. With courage,
forward! In regards this law, we abstain.
Sebastian Brehm (CDU/CSU): With courage, forward!
Timon Gremmels (SPD): Have you really not noted the irony? Re-read it!
[trans: tem]
