Brussels, 26/08/2014 (Agence Europe) - Austrian Finance Minister Michael Spindelegger announced his resignation on Tuesday 26 August following criticism from the coalition government and his own party about his reluctance to introduce tax reforms.
Spindelegger agrees that tax reforms are needed to ease the burden on the tax-payer, but says they must be introduced at the right time. He disagrees with the Centre-Left chancellor, Werner Faymann, about how a reduction in income tax would be financed. Within his own party, the ÖPV, pressure is rising about the need to introduce the tax cuts as a matter of urgency. Spindelegger refused to cut income tax unless this could be financed without introducing new taxes.
“There has to be cohesion in a party. If the cohesion is no longer there, then the moment has come to hand over the tiller”, he said on Tuesday morning. Spindelegger has been vice-chancellor and president of the ÖPV since 2011, but says he will resign from all his posts. He has been finance minister since the September 2013 elections. Austrian newspapers suggest the current economy minister, Reinhold Mitterlehner, may become vice-chancellor and finance minister. A government source says the decision about the finance minister and who will chair the party will be taken on Tuesday evening.
The Austrian chancellor commented that the coalition government would hold until 2018. (EL)