Merz’s €46 Billion Tax-Break Package Gets Final Lawmaker Backing

Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s €46 billion ($53 billion) package of tax breaks was approved by German upper-house lawmakers, the final legislative hurdle for the measures the ruling coalition hopes will deliver a quick fillip to Europe’s biggest economy.

The package assembled by conservative leader Merz and his Social Democrat partners, who took power in early May, includes higher depreciation allowances for investments in equipment such as machinery and vehicles, as well as a gradual reduction in corporate levies and tax relief for the purchase of electric cars for corporate fleets.

Together with a massive spending drive on infrastructure and defense ...