Overview
- New calculations by the IW for WELT indicate single-earner couples would take home €2,198 to €5,760 less per year if the tax change is paired with ending free spousal health insurance.
- The Finance Ministry plan would replace today’s income-splitting with a “fictive real-splitting” that lets spouses transfer up to €13,805 of allowance to lower the higher earner’s tax bill.
- The draft would scrap wage-tax classes III and V and move married workers to class IV to reduce net-pay gaps that push many second earners into part-time work.
- Models show little change for couples with similar pay, while a case with €70,000 and €0 income trims the tax break from about €7,000 to roughly €4,900.
- The shift would apply only to future marriages, with the OECD urging reform and coalition talks under way as CDU figures differ on whether it would raise women’s employment.