It is argued that the German system of supporting low wage income earners by government transfers gives incentives for employers and employees to contract low wages and then to exploit the government. The paper analyses if such incentives do exist. It turns out that this is the case under...

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...

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...