The contentious debates between the Union and SPD over social reforms continue. CDU parliamentary leader Jens Spahn reaffirmed calls for significant cuts to citizen’s benefit (Bürgergeld), while the SPD on Saturday again pushed for higher inheritance taxes on large fortunes. According to a media report, Federal Minister of Labor Bärbel Bas (SPD) is planning to raise the contribution ceilings for social insurance.
Spahn told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that "even more than ten percent could be saved on citizen’s benefit." The CDU politician thus went further than Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU), who had previously called for at least a five percent reduction in citizen’s benefit. On the broader debate over social reforms, Spahn said all coalition partners should stop "reading each other’s party programs." He also pushed for a stronger center-right direction for the government alliance, arguing it would better reflect voter preferences.
Johannes Winkel, head of the Young Union, also called for "cutting back the bloated welfare state." For this, he said the Chancellor, Friedrich Merz (CDU), must "show leadership" even against the SPD, speaking to the Bild newspaper. Chancellor’s Office Chief Thorsten Frei (CDU) again opposed tax increases, warning in the Rheinische Post that this would affect not wealthy individuals but rather medium-sized companies.
In contrast, Juso leader Philipp Türmer called for higher taxation of large inheritances. He dismissed Union concerns that this would burden medium-sized businesses as "a fairy tale." Instead of social cuts, "it’s about questioning the many tax privileges of the very rich," Türmer told the newspapers of the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND). He urged his party to assert more of its own profile within the coalition with the Union.
The expected 2027 budget gap of 30 billion euros cannot be bridged through cuts to the social sector, Türmer warned. This is "completely unrealistic." Reductions targeting so-called total refusers of citizen’s benefit, for example, would bring in less than 100 million euros, "not even a drop in the bucket," he said.
According to a report by Politico, Bas’s plans to raise contribution ceilings are based on the required adjustment to wage growth. A draft decree from the Labor Ministry suggests that the contribution ceiling for statutory pension insurance will rise to 8,450 euros in 2026, up from 8,050 euros this year. Higher contribution ceilings mainly affect high earners, as their incomes exceed these limits. For statutory health and long-term care insurance, the ceiling is reportedly set to increase from 5,512.50 euros to 5,812.50 euros.
The so-called compulsory insurance threshold, which allows those who exceed it to opt for private health insurance, is also set to rise from 6,150 euros to 6,450 euros. According to the draft decree, gross wages and salaries in Germany rose by 5.16 percent in 2024.
CDU social policy expert Dennis Radtke told the Berliner Tagesspiegel that raising the contribution ceilings is therefore necessary. "The federal government is following wage development and has little room for maneuver in the matter," he said. However, he noted that rising additional contributions in statutory health insurance could hit many workers twice. "Many people are already fed up because, despite hard work, they can barely get ahead," he added.
BSW leader Sahra Wagenknecht criticized the increase in contribution ceilings as insufficient. A citizens’ insurance into which everyone contributes "proportionally to their income" is also necessary, she demanded in the newspapers of the Funke Media Group.
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