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Berlin – There is a risk of a new dispute in the federal government between Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) and Federal Social Affairs Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD). Like that Handelsblatt Citing government circles, Lindner is said to have initially stopped the increase in social security contribution assessment limits planned by Hubertus Heil.

Discussions are now underway in the federal government about how to proceed, the report said. If there was an increase, high earners in particular would pay more. Social insurance, which consists of pension, unemployment, health and nursing care insurance, is considered to be underfinanced in the long term.

According to the report, Heil is planning to significantly increase the contribution assessment limits, i.e. the income thresholds up to which contributions must be paid, for the coming year.

These currently amount to an annual salary of around 91,000 euros for pension and unemployment insurance, and around 62,000 euros for nursing care and statutory health insurance. From 2025 they are expected to increase by a good six percent.

Like that Handelsblatt reports, the Ministry of Finance sees an increase as a contradiction to the tax relief planned in the traffic light coalition’s growth package. The draft presented by the Ministry of Labor “would counteract the relief effects of the growth initiative measures,” the newspaper quotes from a note from the Ministry of Finance.

When asked, the Ministry of Finance did not want to comment on the matter. Lindner said the day before yesterday in the Bundestag that there was a risk that the decided relief would be “diverted to social insurance by increasing the contribution assessment limit and that the purchasing power effect we intended would not occur.”

When asked, the Ministry of Labor announced that the regulation had been “in interdepartmental coordination” since mid-September, and the result remained to be seen. An annual adjustment based on gross wage development is legally stipulated.

This ensures that “employees and employers participate in the financing of social security in accordance with wage developments, since benefits, such as pensions, are also adjusted annually based on wage developments,” the ministry said. Without the annual adjustment Assessment limits “would relieve the burden on higher earners at the expense of contribution income.” © afp/aerzteblatt.de