The pension reforms of the years 2000 until 2007 were supposed to attenuate the foreseeable effects of demographic change on the pension system. This is why the retirement age was raised, the pension level was lowered and a so-called sustainability factor ("Nachhaltigkeitsfaktor") was introduced...

With the pension reforms of 2001 and 2004 the objective of stable living standards was abandoned, a gradual reduction of the pension level was envisaged and the funded "Riester Pension" was introduced on a voluntary basis. First analyses of this reform show that the promised effects - higher...

The local business tax as the main revenue source of local governments in Germany has been under extensive debate for decades. Proposals for reform range from a broad tax base in the sense of an origin-based value-added tax to a pure profit tax that could be implemented as a surcharge on...