The tax burden of typical wage income earners in Germany is analyzed. It turns out that the overall tax rate (wage income tax, solidarity surcharge, contributions to social security) for selected singles will go up in the period 2013–2017 if the tax rules will not be changed. The main reason...

Based on a description of the German system of taxes and transfers, the incentives to work are analyzed for several groups of the labor force. The effects of the “Hartz IV” reform (effective from 2005 onwards) on the incentives receive particular attention. It turns out that the marginal...