Pinkwart sharply criticizes Scholz's law

The German government's law on employee participation in start-ups is highly controversial. NRW Minister of Economic Affairs Andreas Pinkwart accuses the government of acting in a provincial manner.

A new chapter on the subject of employee participation: In a guest article in the Rheinische Post newspaper, North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister of Economic Affairs Andreas Pinkwart has commented on the planned change in the law as "despondent, bureaucratic and lacking a deeper understanding of the needs of start-ups".

Pinkwart attests to the grand coalition's lack of understanding of the start-up economy, his verdict on the government: "It is acting provincially." Good employee participation is crucial for a location advantage. Pinkwart describes the planned tax-free allowance of 720 euros for employee share ownership and the tax period of ten years as "grotesque".

His proposal: an increase in the tax-free amount to 3,000 euros, as well as the extension of taxation to 15 years, because "if taxation hits after ten years, start-ups are just in the growth phase," criticizes Pinkwart. He also believes that no social security contributions should be due for employee participation. He sees this as reducing "the attractiveness of employee participation and start-ups as employers".

It was only at the beginning of February that Finance Minister Olaf Scholz emphasized that the planned Fund Location Act would remain in its communicated form, even after criticism from politics and business. The law still has to pass through the Bundesrat and the Bundestag.