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Government unveils transition to single tax scale

The Luxembourg government has presented a landmark reform to consolidate its income tax system into one universal class which will provide relief for singles and some married couples, though households where one partner earns over 75% of income may face higher bills. The change is set for implementation in 2028.

Prime Minister Luc Frieden described the move as the government “starting the year with a bang”, highlighting its significance as one of the most anticipated reforms of the legislative term. The current system – comprising tax classes 1, 1a, and 2 – will be replaced by a new, unified “U” class.

Officials tout the new structure as “simpler” and “more transparent”, designed to address perceived inequities where single individuals are taxed more heavily than couples under the current regime.

Also today

• The digital wallet Wero is to replace Payconiq and is expected to launch in July. Like Payconiq, or its predecessor Digicash, Wero allows users to make transfers or pay bills via QR codes using their mobile phones. The app is already in use in Belgium, France, and Germany.
• Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez has got down to the business of running the country, under pressure from Washington to give access to Caracas’s oil while trying to keep supporters of ousted Nicolas Maduro on her side.
• Key European allies of Ukraine and top US envoys are meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris today in their latest bid to agree security guarantees for a ceasefire in Russia’s war against its neighbour.
• Swiss authorities have admitted that fire safety inspections had not been carried out for the past five years at Le Constellation bar where 40 people died in a blaze on New Year’s Eve.
• Luxembourg City police have issued a public appeal for witnesses after confirming that a substantial pool of blood was found on Place du Théâtre this morning. While several sources suggested that a fight had been the cause, police have not yet confirmed this information.

On air

A huge heated debate erupted in the studio and online, as to what the correct pronounciation is of Timothée Chalamet! Help!

Figure of the day

Six dead in weather accidents as cold snap grips Europe

• Icy temperatures plunged swathes of Europe into a second day of travel chaos on Tuesday, with weather-related accidents causing six deaths from the continent’s bitterest cold snap this winter so far.
• Five of those deaths since the mercury dropped on Monday were in France alone, while a woman died in Bosnia as heavy snow and rain sparked floods and power outages across the Balkans.
• Paris’s two main airports, Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly, are set to cancel many flights early Wednesday to allow ground crews to clear snow from runways and de-ice planes.
  Forty percent of flights at Charles de Gaulle are to be scrapped, and 25 percent at Orly.

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