Who bears the tax burden in Germany? Tax structure slightly progressive

Artikel

A comprehensive, microdata-based analysis of the German tax system's distributional effects in 2015 shows that the total tax burden from direct and indirect taxes is slightly progressive on higher income, but regressive in the lower deciles. Income and corporate taxes are distinctly progressive. They impose hardly any burden on lower- and middle-income households, but the average burden significantly increases for higher incomes. On the other hand, the indirect taxes that generate almost half of Germany's tax revenues have a highly regressive effect. In relation to income, they burden low earners more heavily than high-income households. When some of the social security contribution is assigned to the tax system, the total tax burden on middle income groups is not much lower than that on the very wealthy, whose corporate and investment income are not subject to a progressive income tax.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Journal: DIW Economic Bulletin ; ISSN: 2192-7219 ; Volume: 6 ; Year: 2016 ; Issue: 51/52 ; Pages: 601-608 ; Berlin: Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW)

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies; includes inheritance and gift taxes ; Taxation and Subsidies: Incidence ; Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions
• Subject: tax burden ; tax incidence ; income redistribution

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Bach, Stefan ; Beznoska, Martin ; Steiner, Viktor
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW)
• (where): Berlin
• (when): 2016

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/148619
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET