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Who Bears the Tax Burden in Germany? Tax Structure Slightly Progressive

Author

Listed:
  • Stefan Bach
  • Martin Beznoska
  • Viktor Steiner

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefan Bach & Martin Beznoska & Viktor Steiner, 2016. "Who Bears the Tax Burden in Germany? Tax Structure Slightly Progressive," DIW Economic Bulletin, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 6(51/52), pages 601-608.
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwdeb:2016-51-1
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    File URL: https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.549581.de/diw_econ_bull_2016-51-1.pdf
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Charlotte Bartels & Maria Metzing, 2019. "An integrated approach for a top-corrected income distribution," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 17(2), pages 125-143, June.
    2. Clemens Fuest & Andreas Peichl & Sebastian Siegloch, 2018. "Do Higher Corporate Taxes Reduce Wages? Micro Evidence from Germany," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(2), pages 393-418, February.
    3. Orsetta Causa & Mikkel Hermansen, 2018. "Income Redistribution Through Taxes and Transfers across OECD Countries," LIS Working papers 729, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    4. Bachelet, Marion & Kalkuhl, Matthias & Koch, Nicolas, 2021. "What If Working from Home Will Stick? Distributional and Climate Impacts for Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 14642, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Orsetta Causa & Mikkel Hermansen, 2017. "Income redistribution through taxes and transfers across OECD countries," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1453, OECD Publishing.
    6. Clemens Fuest & Andreas Peichl & Sebastian Siegloch, 2017. "Wer trägt die Lasten von Steuern auf Unternehmensgewinne? – Lehren aus den Erfahrungen mit der deutschen Gewerbesteuer," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 70(24), pages 22-27, December.
    7. Marion Bachelet & Matthias Kalkuhl & Nicolas Koch, 2022. "What if working from home will stick? Distributional and climate impacts for Germany," CEPA Discussion Papers 41, Center for Economic Policy Analysis.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • H22 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Incidence
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

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