Improvements to agricultural subsidies are not enough

Saxony's Minister President Michael Kretschmer considers the federal government's announced improvements to the motor vehicle tax for farmers and agricultural diesel to be insufficient. "The federal government's concession on agricultural subsidies is not enough," the CDU politician announced on Thursday on the platform formerly known as Twitter X. It must also withdraw the planned burdens on agricultural diesel.

"The withdrawal of the motor vehicle tax for agriculture is just a drop in the ocean compared to the abolition of agricultural diesel subsidies," said Kretschmer. It places a one-sided and disproportionate burden on farmers and leads to a further increase in the cost of food production.

The German government actually wanted to abolish tax breaks for farmers for agricultural diesel and vehicle tax in order to plug holes in the budget. Farmers had been protesting against this for some time. On Thursday, the federal government announced its intention to partially reverse planned cuts to subsidies for farmers.

According to the announcement, there will be no abolition of the motor vehicle tax exemption for agriculture. The abolition of tax concessions for agricultural diesel will not be implemented in one step. The German Farmers' Association has called for a week of action starting on Monday and is sticking to it even after the German government gave in.