Merkel Goes on the Offensive At Home Warns Voters That A Vote for the Competition Will Raise Taxes

Angela Merkel urged Germans on Tuesday to re-elect her “clever” government, saying it would shield their businesses and jobs from tax hikes by the center-left.

The chancellor, whose bid for a third term on Sept. 22 is a close contest despite her popularity, said Peer Steinbrueck would ruin her progress on cutting unemployment and cementing economic recovery if his Social Democrats (SPD) came to power.

“These are all successes of our citizens, employers and entrepreneurs – but also the result of clever political leadership,” 59-year-old Merkel told the Bundestag lower house of parliament in a debate on ‘The Situation in Germany’.

Seizing on the SPD and Greens’ economic ideas as a weapon for the final stage of the campaign, she said higher taxes on top incomes, wealth and inheritance would “put jobs at risk and demotivate the Mittelstand”, referring to the family-owned firms that form the backbone of Europe’s biggest economy.

via CNBC

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency
trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza