Fiscal competition is supposed to lead to the collapse of the welfare state because, first, it will become difficult for a single jurisdiction to levy a redistribution tax upon the rich and mobile, and second, such a policy, if undertaken in one jurisdiction, will attract poor individuals from...

One of the most pertinent reform discussions in Germany is found in the debate on the local business tax. During the last year, two basic reform proposals, a revitalisation of the current local business tax and its replacement by a surcharge on personal and corporate income taxes, intensively...

Since 2009 Germany has a new debt regime that requires the federal government to reduce its structural deficits to 0.35 percent of GDP until 2016 and the Länder to balance their budgets structurally until 2020. In this paper the rationale for a debt brake is discussed, the provisions of the new...