The association the represents the employers within the German metal and electrical industry has criticised recent plans to reduce taxes and social levies. Gesamtmettall commented that the government must first insure that they are able to afford such measures, rather than simply implementing something that they can’t handle.

The group’s president Martin Kannegiesser, claims that the idea is good in principle however federal, state and local authority budgets are not consolidated thus nobody knows what risks would come with such a measure.

Kannegiesser also alluded to recent calls by the Free Democratic Party to lower existing social levies, claiming that he was opposed to any plans to lower social contributions only to see them raised again soon after.

Dampening hopes of any large scale tax cuts or reform, however, German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently emphasized that the coalition would proceed with a great deal of caution when it comes to further tax cuts during 2013.