1. With this new natural gas surcharge was drafted up and passed by the German government.....they figured that NO VAT should occur with this surcharge. The EU said 'no'.....you must apply the surcharge with a VAT. As you can imagine, this generated a lot of negativity in just a matter of hours.
As of last night, the SPD and Green folks in the coalition have come to a new understanding....which amounts to some kind of 'direct payments' to consumers....to avoid the VAT on the surcharge.
Legal? The EU probably will review this and have something to say.
What this VAT adds to? 19-percent, on top of the surcharge (not a permanent thing, remember).
2. The public TV network of Berlin (RBB) got back into the news this AM....revealing the salary levels of all management employees. They put everything out on public view. Well....except the salary level of fired boss Schlesinger. Not a lot of explanation....one might assume that since she's gone, she doesn't count with this new policy.
3. This public Covid test business is about to hit a brick wall. The people who are supposed to monitor and prevent fraud with the public testing program is the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. They've reached a point where they don't want the job, and probably will admit that they don't have the resources to really handle the bulk fraud going on.
So it came out last night....the Health Minister wants a new angle on managing the processing and money-handling of the test program.
Who gets it? The agency of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). In respect to this....RKI does report to Herr Lauterbach (the Health Minister), but they were really designed as a science and medicine group of folks....not financial management. So they've come up to say this is not their mission or purpose.....to manage the money angle to the Covid testing program.
What'll happen next? My humble view is that RKI will get stuck with this, but also get 500 to 1,000 'money-managers' to bulk up and monitor for fraud.
4. This public appearance in Brandenburg yesterday of the Chancellor (Scholz)? Well....it didn't go well, and various insults were shouted at the guy.
5. WELT published an interesting piece on toilets this AM. So, there is this odd trend going on with pubs, restaurants, shops, etc...in Germany. They are spending renovation funds, and making fairly imaginative rest-rooms (with flair).
The basic idea? If you walk into your hair-dresser shop and the bathroom has to be used....it ought to impress you and convince you of a long-term relationship.
I'll admit....it's pretty crazy.
1 comment:
I'll bet not one politician has to worry about that surcharge. Remember the Solidarity tax? That was to be temporary, yet here we are 20 years later still paying for it. Once a government has their hands in your pocket, they will not pull it out.
Post a Comment