Many countries levy local business taxes. In Germany, the ‘‘Gewerbesteuer‘‘ is the main source of local governments’ tax revenue. If there is local taxation of businesses, liberal professionals and farmers should not be treated differently from business enterprises, as it is the case...

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...

Overall monetary redistribution via the tax and transfer system leads to net incomes being much more evenly distributed in Germany than market income. As a result, in 2011, the Gini coefficient decreased from 0.5 for market income to 0.29 for household disposable income. The social security...

Overall monetary redistribution via the tax and transfer system leads to net incomes being much more evenly distributed in Germany than market income. As a result, in 2011, the Gini coefficient decreased from 0.5 for market income to 0.29 for household disposable income. The social security...