Josef Bucher (born 19 August 1965) is an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n politician and former leader of the

Alliance for the Future of Austria The Alliance for the Future of Austria (; BZÖ) is a right-wing populist, national conservative political party in Austria. The BZÖ was founded on 3 April 2005 by Jörg Haider as a moderate splinter from the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) ...

(BZÖ) as well as former Member of Parliament for the party. Divorced with two children, Bucher is a hotel owner. After the death of BZÖ chairman

Jörg Haider Jörg Haider (; 26 January 1950 – 11 October 2008) was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Au ...

, Bucher was elected ''Klubobmann'', chairman of the party's parliamentary grouping on 22 October 2008. Initially, Stefan Petzner, Haider's designated successor as party chairman, was expected to be elected to that post as well. Petzner had to pass the leadership over to former vice-chairman Herbert Scheiber. His replacement as party leader was widely interpreted as the result of the rising criticism of Petzner's former media appearances. Both Petzner and Scheibner were elected two of five vice chairmen of the party (the other 3 being Stadler the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

future leading candidate of the party, Haider's sister Haubner and former party leader of the BZÖ Westenthaler). On 26 April 2009 at the party congress in

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

, Bucher was elected as the new leader of the party. On 30 January 2010 after the secession of the party officials and members from the Carinthian party, Bucher was elected Chairman of the newly formed Carinthian BZÖ. In a reaction about the issue that 10 per cent of Austrians own nearly 60 per cent of the country's private assets, Bucher criticised in an interview 2011 that further lack of

reform Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...

s by the

Austrian Federal Government The Government of Austria () is the executive cabinet of the Republic of Austria. It consists of the chancellor, who is the head of government, the vice chancellor and the ministers. Appointment Since the 1929 reform of the Austrian C ...

would create new poverty in the middle class. On 18 April 2012 Josef Bucher stated in further cases of

market manipulation In economics and finance, market manipulation occurs when someone intentionally alters the supply or demand of a security to influence its price. This can involve spreading misleading information, executing misleading trades, or manipulating ...

and reckless car petrol price increasements by businesspeople in the energy sector prison terms were needed as a stricter penalty against the leading entrepreneurs. In October 2012 Josef Bucher demanded in parliament for a

flat tax A flat tax (short for flat-rate tax) is a tax with a single rate on the taxable amount, after accounting for any deductions or exemptions from the tax base. It is not necessarily a fully proportional tax. Implementations are often progressi ...

with 39% as an income tax quota for all income-earners over €14,793.09 per annum and 10% for all between ''Geringfügigkeitsgrenze''( marginal employment border) and the €14,993.09 threshold per annum) Josef Bucher stepped down as BZÖ party leader after BZÖ lost all seats in parliament in the 2013 legislative election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bucher, Josef 1965 births Living people People from Friesach Austrian hoteliers Alliance for the Future of Austria politicians