Background information

Due to the high inflation, driven by increasing energy and food prices and supply shortages, the federal government of Austria has issued three anti-inflation packages during the spring and summer 2022.

The latest package from August 2022 consists of several measures that compensate businesses, workers and citizens for the increasing prices (including financial measures supporting families in the cost-of-living crisis , a tax reform abolishing the “cold progression” and adjustment of social benefits to inflation , or the establishment of a housing umbrella programme for securing one’s home .

In order to compensate all Austrians for the increased costs of living, a universal measure has been established that increases the climate bonus and provides a one-off anti-inflation bonus payment.

Content of measure

In October 2022, the eco-social tax reform came into force in Austria. This regulation includes a CO2-tax (postponed from the originally planned starting date of 1 July 2022 due to the economic situation). In 2022, the price was €30 per ton of CO2; by 2025, the price will rise to €55 per ton of CO2.

The taxes collected will flow back to the Austrian population in the form of a climate bonus. The climate bonus is set to be paid annually from 2022 on to all persons having their main residence in Austria for at least six months in a year. Originally, it was intended that the bonus is staggered regionally; while in urban regions with well-developed public transport, the bonus would be lowest, it would be highest in remote rural areas. When the CO2 tax is increased, the climate bonus is automatically increased as well.

With the increasing inflation and rising prices, the federal government has decided to increase the climate bonus for all eligible persons to a flat rate of €250 for adults (instead of originally lying between €100 and €200) and €125 for children up to the age of 18 years. Due to the high inflation in 2022, an additional anti-inflation bonus of €250 (€125 for children) is used to top-up the climate bonus, marking a flat-rate payment of €500 for adults and €250 for children, to be paid automatically starting in September 2022.

Use of measure

According to the federal government, the climate bonus is paid to around 9 million persons, with total costs ranging around €2 billion (which are partially collected via the newly implemented CO2 taxes).

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Does not apply to businesses	Applies to all citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	National funds Other

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement as case not in social partner domain	No involvement as case not in social partner domain
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

The social partners were not involved in the measure.

Views and reactions

Organised labour (Chamber of Labour AK and the Austrian Trade Union Federation ÖGB) are generally welcoming of this measure, as "in terms of distribution policy, [it] tends to be positive because the relief is independent of income and therefore has a relatively stronger effect in the lower income brackets". Furthermore, the organisations welcome that the regional gradation is no longer applied and people in urban areas are no longer disadvantaged (by receiving smaller payments).

Organised business on the other hand (Federal Economic Chamber WKO) is generally sceptical of the CO2-pricing and has proposed to postpone its implementation by one to two years. At the same time, the commerce section of the WKO welcomes that all those recipients who have not registered a bank account with the financial administration will receive the bonus in the form of vouchers, to be used at domestic companies.

Sources

• 17 June 2022: First analysis anti-inflation package (www.arbeiterkammer.at)
• 24 August 2022: https://www.bmf.gv.at/presse/pressemeldungen/2022/August/klima-und-antiteuerungsbonus-frueher.html
• 08 September 2022: https://www.klimabonus.gv.at/
• 08 June 2023: Climate bonus 2023 will be increased - payment in autumn (www.finanz.at)