WKO President Mahrer

How Austria should ignite the prosperity turbo

President Mahrer (left) to Georg Wailand in the "Krone" interview: "The population does not want radical actions, but a reliable broad center. That's what common sense says."

(Bild: Holl Reinhard/Reinhard Holl)

The closer the election date approaches, the more promises the parties make. Where is our economy heading? WKO President Harald Mahrer has some frank words on the subject.

"Krone": What is needed to prevent Austria from falling further behind?
Harald Mahrer: The key thing is that Austria's economy needs relief and not a burden of new taxes. We want and need to be at the forefront of international competition if we want to maintain our prosperity. We therefore need to bake the prosperity cake bigger, otherwise there will only be arguments about distribution. New taxes would be poison for our state, they would put us on the sidelines. No, quite the opposite: we should boldly ignite the prosperity turbo. And without so-called counter-financing, i.e. without inventing new taxes. This forward strategy would cost nothing, for example if there were incentives to work more and overtime, if employees could work even longer instead of retiring, all of which would create new value.

Sounds good, but at the same time you want to attract foreign companies to the country with tax cuts?
A reduction in corporation tax to 15 percent - for a limited period of a few years - would be one such measure. It costs nothing because it creates new value and jobs.

And you reject tax increases in principle?
We should rather strive to ensure that tax revenues are used more efficiently. In other words: targeted instead of a system of subsidies with a watering can!

But what if there is a lack of workers for additional economic growth? The FPÖ has recommended looking around the EU for job seekers?
This only underlines the cluelessness of those who propose this. After all, everyone in the EU has the same problems when it comes to finding workers - the Germans, the Italians, the Dutch and the Eastern Europeans. Instead, we should follow the strict Canadian model and invite people willing to work into the country. And only those who really want to work here - and not those who want to collect social benefits from us.