Saxony must plug budget holes this year

Saxony's Finance Minister Hartmut Vorjohann (CDU) wants to use the billion-euro surplus from the two previous years to plug budget holes this year. It is about 1.1 billion euros, which remained in the reserve after the double budget 2021/22, confirmed a spokesman for the Ministry of Finance in Dresden a report of the "Sächsische Zeitung" (Friday). The reason is significantly lower tax revenues.

Already the May tax estimate had Saxony forecast reduced revenues of about 600 million in the current double budget, said the ministry spokesman. This amount had increased further, currently to 1.2 billion euros. Vorjohann therefore does not exclude a budget freeze if necessary, he confirmed information of the newspaper.

Vorjohann told the "Sächsische Zeitung" that the main problem is that the expenses of the Free State are currently about one billion per year higher than its own revenues. Further cost increases were threatened, among other things, by the upcoming collective bargaining for employees of the federal states. If it should come to a similar conclusion as for the employees of federation and municipalities, on Saxonia in the coming year additional expenditures of 500 million euro could come.

Further cost increases are foreseeable by additional expenditures for the range refugees and migration as well as for the 49-Euro-Ticket. In addition, Saxony would still have to repay nearly 2.5 billion euros in outstanding Corona loans. In total, the Free State had taken out almost 2.8 billion euros in loans to combat the consequences of the pandemic. Just under 300 million euros of that is to be repaid this year, according to the newspaper, and nearly 400 million in 2024.