Germany’s government waters down a cost-cutting plan that infuriated the country’s farmers

By GEIR MOULSON
Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — The German government is watering down cost-saving plans that have infuriated farmers. It announced on Thursday that it will give up a proposal to scrap an exemption from car tax for farming vehicles and will stagger cuts to tax breaks for diesel used in agriculture. The cuts were part of a package agreed last month by leaders of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s unpopular three-party coalition to fill a 17 billion-euro ($18.6 billion) hole in the 2024 budget. Farmers staged a protest with tractors in Berlin and called for more demonstrations this month, and even the agriculture minister spoke out against the cuts being implemented in full. He said that farmers have no alternative to diesel.