German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she\u2019ll press ahead with tax cuts and labor-market deregulation after winning re-election with enough support to govern with the pro-business Free Democrats.<\/p>\n
With Germany struggling to recover from the deepest economic slump since World War II, voters spurned plans by Merkel\u2019s Social Democratic challenger to raise taxes on top earners. Frank-Walter Steinmeier\u2019s SPD had its worst postwar result in what he called a \u201cbitter day\u201d\u009d after sharing power with Merkel for four years and governing for the previous seven.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a clear sentiment in favor of economic changes, especially on income taxes,\u201d\u009d Tilman Mayer, head of the Bonn- based Institute for Political Science, said in an interview. \u201cVoters have turned their back on grand coalition-style compromise politics.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n