While many countries in the euro area are deep in recession due to a debt and structural crisis, the German economy appears to have excelled compared to many other euro area countries. Unemployment has fallen to the lowest level since German reunification, economic output has grown by over eight...

Net wealth taxes aim at moving the tax burden towards higher personal wealth. Assets and liabilities have to be collected and valuated. In this field, new effective valuation procedures introduced for inheritance and gift taxes could be adopted, overseas tax evasion has to be impeded. Since...

Taxes on high income and wealth are controversial in optimal taxation theory and tax policy. In models that are based on few estimable parameters, optimal top tax rates hinge on taxpayers' behavioral responses and top income concentration. Depending on the magnitude of the responses optimal top...

Die Bundesregierung plant eine Anpassung des Einkommensteuertarifs in den Jahren 2013 und 2014, mit der die Wirkungen der kalten Progression ausgeglichen werden sollen. Diese entstehen vor allem durch den schnellen Anstieg der Grenz- und Durchschnittssteuersätze im unteren und mittleren...

Following a Federal Constitutional Court sentence, wealth tax has not been levied in Germany since 1997. A possible revival has since regularly been the subject of political debate. Several German federal states are currently preparing to submit a bill to the Bundesrat. A basic scenario...

If the revenue from corporate taxation in Germany is divided by the corporate income figures from the national accounts, companies' average tax burden for the period 2001 to 2008 is 21 percent. This rate is considerably lower than the statutory tax rates for this period. The reason for this is...

The planned increase of the insurance periods recognized for bringing up children (Mütterrente) will increase the pension contribution rate by an average of 0.3 percentage points and reduce the gross pension level by an average of 0.4 percentage points by 2018. However, since government...