Saturday April 18, 10:12 PM
German Social Democrats pitch higher taxes for rich
BERLIN (AFP) - Germany's Social Democrats, lagging in opinion polls, called Saturday for higher taxes for the rich, and lower taxes for those less well off, as they prepared to fight September 27 elections.
The proposals are highlighted in the electoral platform approved unanimously by Social Democratic Party (SPD) leaders ahead of its approval at a national party convention on June 14.
"It sets out a direction that we will need in this economically difficult year," said Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the SPD candidate for chancellor, who is currently Germany's foreign minister.
If the Social Democrats take the Bundestag (parliamentary) election, the highest tax rate for individuals earning more than 125,000 euros, or couples earning more than 250,000 euros, would go up to 47 percent from 45 percent.
The lowest tax rate of 14 percent, on the other hand, would be cut to 10 percent, Steinmeier said, adding that an estate tax sought by the left wing of the party had been rejected.
Germany is weathering its worst economic crisis in decades, but Chancellor Andrea Merkel's Christian Democrats and the allied Christian Socialist Union in Bavaria still enjoy a lead among voters.
They were favoured by 35 percent of respondents in the most latest opinion poll, for Stern magazine and RTL television, compared with 24 percent for the Social Democrats and 10 percent for the Greens.
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