The German Federal Government has expanded subsidies for employees with low gross wages (midijob employees) as of January 1, 2023, and raised the upper earnings limit to 2,000 euros. As a result, around 6.2 million midijob employees will benefit from paying reduced social security contributions...

Despite the easing of prices on the energy markets, private households continue to be burdened by elevated prices. The planned increase the planned increase in the carbon price for transport and heating will raise the burden on private households even further. These additional costs are...

The ecological tax reform that Germany implemented between 1999 and 2003 increased energy tax rates-especially on gasoline and diesel. Today, the ecological tax hikes yield an annual revenue of around 20 billion euros or 0.6 percent of GDP. The money is used to finance a higher federal grant to...

In the policy debate, there are regular demands to further increase the retirement age to address the financial challenges for the pension system. However, a prolonged working life impacts a person's health. Detailed data from the statutory health insurance companies shows that abolishing the...

Basic income benefits cover recipients' actual heating expenses as long as they are not unusually high. In contrast, their electricity expenses are only covered via a lump sum at the standard rate. Thus, basic income recipients have weaker incentives for reducing their heating expenses than for...

An accident, a chronic illness, or even a congenital disability are common causes of a loss of earning capacity. Although the loss of earned income is insured through the reduced earning capacity pension in the statutory pension insurance scheme, the amount received is so low that people with...

In many European countries, men and women differ significantly in the amount of informal care work they provide for relatives, with women acting as caregivers far more frequently than men. This difference, known as the gender care gap, varies considerably between European countries, with Germany...

Two traditional options for reforming Ehegattensplitting, the joint taxation of married couples with full income splitting, are de facto income splitting (Realsplitting) or individual taxation with a transferable personal allowance. However, these proposals do not significantly reduce the...

The gender pension gap, the difference in pension entitlements between men and women, is 32 percent for 60-yearolds according to data from the German Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung). In addition, there is a considerable motherhood pension gap: Statutory pension entitlements for...