German Cabinet backs tax relief measures to boost business investment

DPA

Wed, Jun 4, 2025, 3:42 AM 1 min read

The German government has approved a package to allow companies to write off billions of euros' worth of investments as it seeks to boost the country's ailing economy.

Presenting his first major legislative project since taking office in early May, Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said the efforts - which he described as a "growth booster" - would "secure jobs and put Germany back on course for growth."

The package includes extended options for companies to write off machinery and electric vehicle costs from taxes within the next three years, in order to incentivize them to invest.

From 2028, cooperation tax is to be gradually reduced from the current 15% to 10% by 2032 in a bid to provide long-term planning security for businesses and allow them to keep up with international competition.

Before the measures can take effect, they have to be passed both in the lower and upper houses of parliament.

Klingbeil's Social Democats (SPD) said they are hoping for a decision to come before the summer recess in mid-July.

Boosting Germany's frail economy, which has suffered two consecutive years of recession, is one of the main priorities of the new governing coalition, comprised of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative bloc and Klingbeil's centre-left SPD.