Germany: Green reform of the commuter subsidy?
The Green parliamentary group proposes an eco-social reform of the commuter allowance - with the aim of having transport emissions and government spending reduced at the same time. In future, commuters who use environmentally harmful vehicles such as internal combustion engines will only be entitled to a reduced commuter allowance.
Especially in rural areas, commuting is part of many people's everyday lives. Their workplace is far away from home - perhaps in the city - the public transport offer is insufficient and they are therefore dependent on their own car. For this, commuters receive financial support from the state to cushion the costs of daily car journeys. The so-called commuter allowance is currently around 30 cents per kilometre per working day - 38 cents for long-distance commuters who have to drive 21 kilometres or more to work. But this could change in the future. Because the flat rate in its current form has little in common with the plans of the traffic light coalition.
The Green parliamentary group is primarily targeting all internal combustion vehicles that are used daily as commuter cars. No distinction is made between the type of car or fuel, especially in the commuting allowance. Whether the employee drives an old diesel or a new electric car is irrelevant. A flat-rate system - which perhaps worked in the beginning because it systematically distributed the flat-rate money fairly to some extent - but which now runs the risk of coming into conflict with the government's plans. No longer does the governing coalition, mainly at the request of the Greens, want to allow environmentally harmful subsidies to continue. Since the state has to reduce emissions and improve its climate balance in accordance with the Climate Protection Act. It is also important to scale government spending where possible.
An "ecological-social reform of the commuter allowance", explains co-faction leader Katharina Dröge, should in fact offer a two-way solution. According to the Greens' plan, people who commute to work by an environmentally harmful means of transport, such as a combustion car, should in future be able to benefit less from the commuter allowance than before. Thus, on the one hand, the traffic lights could reduce the active stock of combustion cars on the road and the associated polluting emissions. And on the other hand, through reduced expenditure on the flat-rate allowance, it could make the necessary savings in the transport sector possible. Cuts could also soon be made in company car privileges and in air travel in order to comply with the budgetary debt brake. According to the Federal Environment Agency, more than 60 billion euros could be saved through such adjustments in the commuter tax allowance, company car privilege and air travel.
However, the final decision has not yet been made. A now postponed cabinet meeting was actually planned for this week to discuss, among other things, the Greens' reform proposal. It is now unclear whether and when Transport Minister Wissing and Finance Minister Lindner will be ready for the proposed change in the law. One thing is clear, however: Germany must increase its pace in the sustainable transformation of the transport sector and significantly reduce pollution. A new commuter allowance, with the environment in mind, could be the step in the right direction.