Fiscal consideration of commuting expenses
The commuter flat rate is aimed at the 30 million income tax-paying commuters in Germany and is awarded irrespective of the mode of transport. This is intended to remove the incentive to use passenger vehicles, which were previously given preferential treatment for tax, and reduce the number of car journeys. At the same time the incentive for full or partial use of more energy-efficient modes of transport such as local public passenger transport will be increased. The fact that this measure does not focus on any one specific mode of transport means that it is possible to avoid structural disadvantages to the users of public and combined modes of transport.