Pinkwart sharply criticizes Scholz's law

The federal government's law on employee participation in start-ups is hotly disputed. NRW Economics Minister Andreas Pinkwart accuses the government of acting provincially.

A new chapter on employee ownership: In a guest article in the Rheinische Post

Pinkwart attests to the Grand Coalition's lack of understanding of the start-up economy, his verdict on the government: "It acts provincially." For a location advantage, a good employee participation is crucial, he said. Pinkwart calls the planned allowance of 720 euros for employee share ownership and the taxation period of ten years "grotesque."

His proposal: an increase in the tax-free allowance to 3,000 euros, and also the extension of taxation to 15 years, because "when taxation hits after ten years, start-ups are just in the growth phase," criticizes Pinkwart. In addition, in his opinion, no social security contributions should be due in the case of employee participation. He sees this as reducing "the attractiveness of employee participation and the start-up as an employer".

Only at the beginning of February, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz had emphasized that the planned fund location law would remain in the communicated form, even after criticism from politics and business. The law still has to go through the Bundesrat and the Bundestag.