Germany’s governing coalition has not yet agreed how to close the remaining gaps in the 2027 federal budget, and taxes on sugary drinks, plastic packaging and electricity are all still under discussion. According to tagesschau, the open questions have to be settled by Thursday, when the budget gets its final review in the Bundestag, the federal parliament.
What happened
Tagesschau reports that the government has floated several ideas to fill holes in the budget, including a plastic tax, a sugar tax and an alcohol tax. After Finance Minister Klingbeil announced the plastic tax, the broadcaster says, everything now appears open again. It adds that plans for a crypto tax and the sugar tax are also still moving.
The deadline is the Bereinigungssitzung, the final session of the Bundestag’s budget committee, where the last changes are made before the budget is adopted. “We still have a few construction sites there,” Fritz Güntzler, finance spokesperson for the Union parliamentary group (the alliance of CDU and CSU), told the ARD-Hauptstadtstudio, the Berlin newsroom of the public broadcaster ARD.
On the Zuckersteuer, a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, tagesschau reports resistance within the Union. A list of signatures from more than a dozen MPs who oppose the tax is said to be circulating. Union parliamentary group leader Thorsten Frei, speaking on ZDF, still indicated support. He argued that the tax has a steering effect, meaning people are expected to consume less sugar, and said the revenue would be used to ease pressure on the gesetzliche Krankenkassen, the statutory health insurance funds. The debate now centres on timing: the Union wants to delay the start by six months.
The Plastiksteuer, a tax on plastic packaging, faces a more basic question: whether it will happen at all. “We are not doing the plastic tax,” Frei said on ZDF on Sunday evening. Tagesschau notes that the tax would involve a lot of bureaucracy and that doubts about its effect exist even in the SPD. SPD parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch told ARD that MPs have a duty to check whether everything is heading in the right direction, and that this is being discussed. Without the plastic tax, the budget would be short of more than one billion euros a year from 2028. Environment Minister Carsten Schneider (SPD) told Deutschlandfunk that the Union must now come up with proposals by Thursday on how to close that hole.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz, meanwhile, wants to cut the Stromsteuer, the electricity tax, for everyone. Tagesschau says this would cost the federal government around five billion euros a year. A government spokesperson said talks on this were under way and that “the political will is clearly there”. Güntzler said that because the chancellor had set this as a goal, he was fairly sure a way would be found.
What it means for you
None of these measures has been finally decided, so nothing changes for residents yet. Based on the tagesschau report, these are the points that could affect households:
- Electricity bills: If the electricity tax cut goes ahead for everyone, tagesschau estimates an average German household would save around five to ten euros a month. The report gives no start date.
- Sugary drinks: A tax on sugar-sweetened drinks may come, but probably later than first planned if the Union gets its way. The revenue is meant to support the statutory health insurance funds, which cover most people living in Germany.
- Plastic packaging: The plastic tax may be dropped. If so, the budget would need more than one billion euros a year from another source from 2028, and the report does not yet say where that money would come from.
If you are planning household costs, look at your electricity provider’s communications once a decision is made, and treat any figures for these taxes as provisional until the budget is passed.
What to watch next
The key date is Thursday’s Bereinigungssitzung in the Bundestag. Tagesschau describes intense negotiating in the last days and hours before it. Watch for three things: whether the sugar tax start is pushed back by six months, whether the plastic tax is dropped and what replaces its revenue, and whether the coalition finds the money for a general cut in the electricity tax.
Source: tagesschau
Sources
- tagesschau: Zucker-, Plastik- und Stromsteuer: Die offenen Baustellen im Haushalt, accessed 10 November 2026 (archived copy)
Germany, for internationals
One email a week: the week's news for internationals in Germany, new practical guides and what changed in the cities. No spam, unsubscribe any time.
Comments 2