[Paradox]

Thanks for your posts on this topic. I knew there had to be something we weren't hearing about this topic. We'll see if these tax increases are able to fix the debt, while not hurting the economy. I have great hopes for Merkle and her government.

[seppel]

Thanks for your civil reply. I am a staunch conservative, and I know Merkel understands the pitfalls of socialism, having grown up under it.

Just because you raise taxes to get the debt problem fixed, does not mean you are a socialist. She is cleaning up the mess left after the SPD has been trolling around the governmental coffers for 30 years, wasting all the money which Adenauer and Erhard had accumulated after the war, and adding massive debt on top of that to finance their voter buyback programme.

Saxony for instance has a debt cycle of 130 years, after Schroeder governed there for 8 years. You can only get so much mileage out of reduced taxes. When there are structural problems such as in Saxony, and most of the former DDR provinces, you have to make structural adjustments to the tax system for decades. Remember: the tax increases are shifting taxes to indirect taxation in combination with reduced governmental spending.

Less Income tax->increased sales tax