A commanding 76 percent of Germans support higher taxes on the wealthy, according to a new Forsa poll published by Stern magazine, placing the governing coalition's smallest partner in an uncomfortable position as budget negotiations intensify.The survey, which polled public attitudes toward redistribution, reveals broad cross-party backing for increased taxation of high earners—a finding that adds pressure to the <strong>SPD-Green-FDP coalition</strong> as it grapples with fiscal constraints imposed by Germany's constitutional debt brake and competing demands for social spending and infrastructure investment.The overwhelming public support for what German political discourse terms a "Reichensteuer"—a wealth tax or higher levy on top earners—comes at a particularly delicate moment for the Free Democratic Party. The liberal FDP has traditionally opposed tax increases on principle, viewing fiscal restraint and low taxation as core elements of Germany's ordoliberal economic model. Yet the poll suggests the party's position is increasingly out of step with public sentiment.Finance Minister Christian Lindner, an FDP leader, has consistently argued that Germany's economic challenges require structural reform rather than higher taxes. The party maintains that competitiveness, not redistribution, should guide fiscal policy amid sluggish growth and industrial transformation pressures.Yet Social Democrats and Greens, the coalition's larger partners, have grown more vocal about the need for tax justice as Germany faces competing pressures: defense spending commitments to NATO, climate transition costs, infrastructure renewal, and social program demands. The poll provides ammunition for those within the coalition advocating a shift in fiscal priorities.In Germany, as elsewhere in Europe, consensus takes time—but once built, it lasts. The survey's findings suggest that consensus may be forming around a more redistributive approach, particularly as economic uncertainty and inequality concerns mount. Whether the coalition can bridge its internal divisions on taxation remains to be seen, but the FDP's traditional stance appears increasingly isolated in public opinion.The poll results also reflect a broader European pattern, with publics across the continent showing greater appetite for redistribution following years of austerity, pandemic spending debates, and concerns about rising living costs. For Germany, long defined by fiscal conservatism and social market principles, the shift represents a notable evolution in economic attitudes.