The structure of income taxation in Germany implies that the marginal and the average tax rates will rise in the course of the coming yearseven if the increase of nominal incomes is modest. The elasticity of the wage income tax revenues with respect to gross wages amounts to about 1.9, assuming...

In recent years, a lot of rules concerning government expenditures as well as tax revenues were changed in Germany. Government expenditures in relation to GDP were reduced, income tax rates were lowered and the budget deficit declined. The structure of government expenditures changed in favor of...

We present a proposal for reforming unemployment assistance in Germany through the introduction of unemployment accounts (UAs). Instead of paying taxes that finance the unemployment assistance, employed people make ongoing contributions to their UAs and can make withdrawals from these accounts...

This paper describes the practical implementation of hiring vouchers in Germany (Kiel Working Paper 1302 "Comparing the Effectiveness of Employment Subsidies" by Alessio Brown, Christian Merkl and Dennis Snower). According to our proposal employers receive vouchers for hiring longterm...

Tax expenditures are granted for a variety of purposes in Germany. They were significantly reduced in December 2003. After the general election in 2005, additional reductions of the tax expenditures were decided upon; however, new measures were introduced, too. The paper presents data on the...

The financial status of the unemployment insurance system in Germany has improved markedly since 2005. Some reform measures and the upswing of the economy are the most important reasons for the favorable development. It is hotly debated how to use the surplus of the Federal Labor Agency....

Subsidization policy is intensively discussed in Germany. The paper demonstrates the extent of subsidization in Germany. Subsidies are defined as the sum of tax expenditures and those government expenditures which distort the structure of the economy; financial aid is granted to different...

Das reale Bruttoinlandsprodukt nahm in den neunziger Jahren in Deutschland je Jahr um etwa einen halben Prozentpunkt weniger zu als in den übrigen Ländern der Europäischen Währungsunion im Durchschnitt. Ein Teil der ?Wachstumslücke? kann durch Unterschiede der Staatsausgaben in Relation zum...