Incentive for overtime: Unions horrified by FDP proposal

The FDP is calling for more tax incentives for working overtime. Due to the progression of wage and income taxes, the salary increase for overtime is currently often reduced, according to a five-point paper to strengthen the economy approved by the party leadership on Monday. “To prevent this, both a limited number of overtime hours and paid overtime bonuses could be made tax-free,” the paper says.

Christian Lindner calls for overtime

FDP leader Christian Lindner said on Sunday evening that he wanted to encourage employees to work overtime because it might be worth it for tax purposes because you don’t hand over everything to the state. A tax-exempt payout is such an incentive for overtime, the party leadership writes in its decision.

The SPD’s top candidate for the European elections, Katharina Barley, rejected the proposals. “Overtime should be the exception because employees have a right to health and free time,” said Barley. The mentality in Germany is excellent and the willingness to perform is high. “But turning this into a system now is like overstimulating a rubber in the long term,” she emphasized. Especially in nursing, many people left the profession because of the overtime.

In its paper, the FDP also calls for an automatic adjustment of wage and income taxes to inflation in order to prevent cold progression. In addition, tax incentive models for foreign skilled workers should be introduced and the employment of older workers should be made more attractive for employers.

In the debate about citizens’ money, the FDP is calling for the calculation method to be put to the test and sanctions for so-called total refusers to be tightened. Work incentives for citizens’ benefit recipients must be increased.

Unions criticize the proposal

Lindner’s FDP’s plans are not exactly met with enthusiasm among the unions. “Crazy ideas like tax-free overtime are an invitation to either displace full-time work or to further increase the gender unequal distribution of work,” says the head of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), Yasmin Fahimi, in an interview with the newspapers of the Funke media group. If you want to effectively combat the shortage of skilled workers, you should ensure that more parents can work full-time.

Frank Werneke, head of the Verdi union, told the newspapers of the Funke media group: “Instead of making overtime and bonuses tax-free, it would make more sense if employers paid so much from the outset that overtime remains attractive both for employees and for the state revenue generated.” Otherwise, the state’s revenue base will continue to erode.