ARTICLE · 15 NOVEMBER 1998

151. Red-Green Tax Reform Proposals

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1. General political situation

The national elections held on 27 September 1998 turned out the coalition of Christian Democrats and Liberals under Chancellor Kohl which had been in office for the past 16 years. The Social Democrats (SPD) took 298 seats in the new Federal Parliament (Bundestag) and the Greens won 47, giving them a surprisingly solid majority of 21 seats over all other parties combined. The SPD and Greens have since wasted little time in forming a new "red-green" coalition government, which elected Gerhard Schroeder as its chancellor on 27 October 1998.

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