On 3 June 2020, the German government announced a EUR 130 billion fiscal stimulus package to stimulate market demand and jumpstart the economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in the spring of 2020. The most prominent measure of this package is an unconventional fiscal policy in the...

Most fiscal incidence studies neither analyze simultaneously the tax and benefit incidence (simply known as net fiscal incidence) nor actually relate poverty indices to fiscal impact. This paper jointly and separately examines the redistributive and poverty effects of the tax and transfer...

Das deutsche Mehrwertsteuersystem steht in Wissenschaft und Politik in der Kritik. Vor allem die ermäßigten Sätze werden in Hinblick auf Besteuerungsbasis und Inzidenz debattiert. Zu ihrer Rechtfertigung werden verteilungspolitische Gründe genannt. Ob diese stichhaltig sind, untersuchen die...

This paper evaluates the temporary VAT reduction invoked by the German government over the third and fourth quarter of 2020 as part of the COVID-19 stimulus package. There is considerable controversy. Critics argue that VAT reductions are ineffective in the presence of lockdown measures in place...