A proposal to give tax breaks to foreign skilled workers who move to Germany has stirred up political controversy, with some attacking the measure as unfair to the country's citizens.
The proposal is part of a 31-page initiative being put forward by Germany's centre-left coalition government aimed at boosting economic growth in the country and addressing chronic shortages of skilled workers by attracting immigrants.
Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, a Green politician, said that a number of other European countries are pursuing similar tax breaks to lure skilled workers from abroad and that Germany "will also make this attempt."
But German Labour Minister Hubertus Heil of the Social Democrats (SPD) expressed scepticism about the idea on Tuesday in an interview with Deutschlandfunk public radio.
"I admit that I'm not terribly happy about the agreement at this point, because it could lead to misunderstandings," Heil said.
The paper outlining the proposal calls for allowing "newly arrived skilled workers" to exempt "30%, 20% and 10% of their gross salary from tax in the first three years."
A lower and upper limit for the gross wage will be defined for the tax exemption.
Alexander Dobrindt of the conservative opposition CDU/CSU bloc has expressed outrage over the proposal. He told dpa that it amounts to a "real discrimination programme against citizens" being pushed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition.
"How can you imagine that? Austrians or Dutch people will pay less tax than locals if they work in Germany?" he said.
Christian Dürr of the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), the junior party in the coalition, made it clear that the tax advantage should only apply to skilled workers and not to refugees.
He said the country's high taxes and bureaucratic hurdles remain a barrier to bringing in highly qualified immigrants.