The federal government expects increased tax revenue for the coming year due to a slightly growing economy. But while taxes are being increased and social cuts are being pushed forward, workers are expected to grit their teeth despite growth. – A comment by Enrico Telle.

It was in the coalition agreement, and after the state elections in August and September, the CDU couldn't move quickly enough to reiterate that electricity taxes should be reduced for everyone. Not just for industry, not just for companies, no, actually for everyone, including us workers.

Finance Minister Klingbeil sees whether the SPD-led Finance Ministry is simply going along with its coalition partner or wants to act economically - despite unexpected additional incomeno leewayto give something back to the working class. Quite the opposite: the decided increase in tobacco and sugar taxes will be felt primarily by the workers who consume the goods, as will the dismantling of the welfare state or the lack of investment in infrastructure, schools or culture.

Tobacco and sugar taxes: full state coffers instead of fighting addiction

On Thursday Lars Klingbeil announced the tax estimates for the next few years. There is good news for the state coffers. Compared to the estimate in May, there will be almost eleven billion euros more next year. Almost 4.1 billion euros of this remains with the federal government.

That is four times what the federal government is investing in 4,000 selected ailing or overburdened schools this year through the “StartChances” program, and almost twice as much as is flowing into the cultural sector in various ways. Even compared to the financing of women's shelters, the sum seems large. In 2026, the federal government will only spend a mere 30 million euros on the renovation of women's shelters, just a fraction of the four billion won. However, these funds to protect women are not financed from the federal budget, but from the “Special Fund for Infrastructure and Climate Neutrality”. Like the special fund, which is used purely for armament, this is completely financed by loans.

Budget draft for 2027: record spending for the Bundeswehr, cuts in the social sector

“No new scope” – black zero at any price

But it is precisely with the loans that Klingbeil finds the problem with the billions that have emerged. If the German state wants to comply with the “debt brake” and thus its currency stability, which is very profitable for the export-oriented economy, 2.5 billion euros of the additional income would have to be withheld in order to cover rising interest rates and debts. The Ministry of Finance presents it as if the national budget were like a checking account: When you run out of pocket money, it's just gone. And it cannot be used for such “additional wishes” as reducing taxes for all citizens, which are actually already in the coalition agreement.

They show what money is forSpecial assets, which question exactly this absolute and fatal logic. Because while the infrastructure has been destroyed at every opportunity for decades at the expense of everyone, since the “turning point” there has suddenly been money for tanks and ammunition that had never previously appeared in any budget. And there is also money for the renovation of roads - but only so that the tanks can drive safely over them heading east. At the end of the day, the deep pockets of a state are not just empty. Those in power simply decide very precisely what and for whom they want to spend the money and what economic consequences they accept for doing so.

Industrial electricity price and electricity tax for businesses

For example, this has been in effect in Germany since January 1, 2026Industrial electricity price. This is intended to promote energy-intensive sectors such as chemicals, steel or mechanical engineering and at the same time to protect them against competition, for example from China or the USA. The target price to be achieved through the subsidy is five cents per kilowatt hour. For comparison: End consumers will pay in October 2026average34.4 cents per kilowatt hour. The costs of this measure, which runs until the end of 2028, can be precisely quantified. This costs the taxpayer just under four billion euros. However, this includes every three years, so the budget item for 2027 should amount to a maximum of a third of that.

In contrast to the industrial electricity price, however, there is another state funding instrument that provides tax money for corporations, namely the reduction of theElectricity tax. This has been a reality for companies in the manufacturing and processing industries since 2024. The electricity tax will be reduced from 2 cents per kilowatt hour to the EU minimum of 0.05 cents per kilowatt hour. The same tax cut that was written into the coalition agreement last year and is now advocated by the CDU has been in effect for industry for years.

Rising energy prices, cold winter: we are on our own

Many people could use some relief. Given the currentEl Nino phenomenonIt is not yet possible to determine whether we are facing a mild or a particularly cold winter. But as the utility bills for an expensive 2025 flutter into mailboxes in the next few months, one can only imagine what the increased oil and gas prices since the Iran War will do to households.

Oil companies are keeping hundreds of millions of euros from the new fuel discount

You can do this onFuel discountsee what effect the federal government's measures have on our class. A significant part of this remains with the oil companies. And this despite the fact that the same phenomenon could already be observed with the first two fuel discounts. If we want to improve our situation, we cannot hope for gifts from those in power. They are far too busy shoveling our taxes to corporations with both hands.

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