No deal on tax among German coalition parties: conservative politician

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's would-be coalition partners have not agreed to abolish a tax imposed after reunification to help poorer eastern states, a conservative politician told Reuters on Sunday, retracting his previous remarks that a deal on the issue had been reached. Hans Michelbach, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc, said earlier that an agreement had been reached with the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) to abolish the "solidarity tax" by 2021. The FDP had made abolishing the tax, which was due to expire in 2019, an election promise. (Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Peter Cooney)