15.03.2018 • 3/2018
Consistently strong economy, but risks are increasing
The global upswing continues in 2018. The German economy is cur-rently in a boom and is increasingly coming up against capacity limits. “According to our forecast, gross domestic product will expand by 2.2% in 2018; the general government surplus will amount to 1.1% in relation to gross domestic product. Economic growth in East Germany is likely to be slightly below the German growth rate”, says Oliver Holtemöller, head of the Department Macroeconomics and IWH vice president.
Oliver Holtemöller
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14.12.2017 • 39/2017
Cyclical upswing in Germany and in the world
At the turn of the year, the cyclical upswing in Germany continues. Gross domestic product is expected to increase by 2.2% in 2017, and because this year has seen significantly fewer working days than before, the rate of change amounts, adjusted for calendar effects, to even 2.5%. “The upswing is broad-based”, says Oliver Holtemöller, head of the Department Macroeconomics and IWH vice president. “For quite a long time now, significant increases in employment have been driving private incomes, consumption and housing construction. The latter was, in addition, stimulated by low interest rates.” Currently, German exports are benefiting from the vivid international economy. Not least since monetary policy in the euro area remains expansionary for the time being, we expect the upturn to continue in 2018 and production to increase again by 2.2%. Consumer price inflation is, with 1.7%, still moderate in both 2017 and 2018. Although domestic price pressures are on the rise, the effects of the energy price increase in 2017 expire in 2018, and the appreciation of the euro in the summer of 2017 will dampen price dynamics.
Oliver Holtemöller
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Debt Brake Will Intensify Bracket Creep Problem
Martin Altemeyer-Bartscher, Götz Zeddies
Wirtschaftsdienst,
No. 2,
2017
Abstract
As taxpayers typically pay relatively little attention to low levels of inflation induced income tax bracket creep, policy makers tend to regularly postpone correction of this problem. Eventually, however, the fiscal illusion fades away, and political pressure for tax relief arises once the cumulative increase of the average tax rate exceeds a critical threshold. Using Germany as an example, it is shown that bracket creep can provoke revenue cycles in public budgets that hinder governments’ compliance with the numerical budget rules. An indexation of the tax tariff, which would provide an automatic correction for bracket creep, could prevent such fluctuations and thus provide a favourable framework for the debt brake.
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Kommentar: Für mehr Ehrlichkeit in der Rentendebatte
Martin Altemeyer-Bartscher, Oliver Holtemöller
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 6,
2016
Abstract
Durch die steigende Lebenserwartung und die geringen Geburtenraten wird in Zukunft eine abnehmende Zahl von Erwerbstätigen in Deutschland die Rentenleistungen für eine steigende Zahl von Rentnern finanzieren müssen. Während im Jahr 2016 auf 100 Beschäftigte 53 Rentner kommen, werden es im Jahr 2050 mehr als 80 Rentner sein. Diese Entwicklung führt zu einer zunehmenden Verunsicherung in der Bevölkerung hinsichtlich der zukünftigen Leistungsfähigkeit der umlagefinanzierten Altersversorgung. Auf diese Verunsicherung antwortete die Politik kürzlich wieder mit der Formulierung einer so genannten doppelten Haltelinie. Diese beinhaltet eine untere Grenze für das Sicherungsniveau und eine obere Grenze für den Beitragssatz.
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Drei Optionen zur Reform der Einkommensteuer
Martin Altemeyer-Bartscher, Oliver Holtemöller, Götz Zeddies
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 4,
2015
Abstract
Die Belastung der Einkommen mit Steuern und Beiträgen ist in Deutschland im internationalen Vergleich hoch. Ferner nehmen die Steuereinnahmen aufgrund der Steuerprogression im Verhältnis zur Bemessungsgrundlage trendmäßig zu. Um den dadurch zunehmenden ineffizienten Keil zwischen Arbeitgeberkosten und Arbeitnehmerbezügen nicht weiter steigen zu lassen oder sogar zu reduzieren, ist eine Reform des Einkommensteuertarifs erforderlich. In diesem Beitrag werden drei Reformvorschläge unterbreitet, die alle zu einer ähnlichen Gesamtentlastung führen würden, aber unterschiedliche Effizienz- und Verteilungswirkungen haben. Die Entscheidung für einen konkreten Tarifverlauf hängt letztlich von politischen Präferenzen ab.
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Corporate Taxation and Firm Location in Germany
Götz Zeddies
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 2,
2015
Abstract
German Fiscal Federalism is characterized by a high degree of fiscal equalization which lowers the efficiency of local tax administration. Currently, a reform of the fiscal equalization scheme is on the political agenda. One option is to grant federal states the right to raise surtaxes on statutory tax rates set by the central government in order to reduce the equalization rate. In such an environment, especially those federal states with lower economic performance would have to raise comparatively high surtaxes. With capital mobility, this could further lower economic performance and thus tax revenues. Although statutory tax rates are so far identical across German federal states, corporate tax burden differs for several reasons. This paper tries to identify the impact of such differences on firm location. As can be shown, effective corporate taxation did seemingly not have a significant impact on firm location across German federal states.
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Eine flexible Ländersteuer bei einem hohen Ausgleich von Finanzkraftunterschieden
Martin Altemeyer-Bartscher
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 6,
2014
Abstract
Am Ende des Jahres 2019 tritt das Finanzausgleichsgesetz außer Kraft. Im Zuge dessen ergibt sich eine historische Chance, die Reibungsverluste im gegenwärtigen Ausgleichssystem durch eine Neuordnung der Bund-Länder-Finanzbeziehungen zu verringern. Ein aktuell viel diskutierter Vorschlag sieht eine flexible Ländersteuer vor. In diesem Beitrag wird analysiert, welche Auswirkungen eine solche erweiterte Steuerautonomie für die Bundesländer hätte und welche Möglichkeiten sich diesbezüglich für eine anreizfreundliche Neugestaltung des Finanzausgleichs mit hoher Ausgleichsintensität ergeben würden.
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Fiscal Equalization, Tax Salience, and Tax Competition
Martin Altemeyer-Bartscher
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 3,
2014
Abstract
Jurisdictions that engage in inter-regional tax competition usually try to attenuate competitive pressures by substituting salient tax instruments with hidden ones. On this effect, we investigate the efficiency consequences of inter-regional tax competition and fiscal equalization in a federal system when taxpayers fail to optimally react on shrouded attributes of local tax policy. If the statuary tax rate is a relatively salient instrument and taxpayers pay low attention to the quality and the frequency of tax enforcement, the underlying substitution of tax instruments with the aim of reducing the perceived tax price may suppress the under-exploitation of tax bases that is typically triggered by fiscal equalization.
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Institutionelle Defizite und wachsende Spannungen in der Euro-Zone
Hubert Gabrisch
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 7,
2007
Abstract
The introduction of the Euro was certainly a success. Nevertheless, behind this success one may find some increasing asymmetries and imbalances across member countries, which may undermine the stability of the common currency in the long run. Tensions include the paralysis of fiscal policy, increasing divergence in per capita income, a high volatility of real state prices, and diverging unit labour cost developments. The given forms of macroeconomic coordination seem not to be appropriate to mitigate the problems. Obviously, countries can compete with wage policy only after currencies and their exchange rates were abolished, and the use of fiscal policy has been restricted. In particular, Germany and Austria were successful in competitive wage policy, while countries like Spain, Greece, Portugal, Italy, and also France did not yet use the competitiveness channel. Germany was able to reduce its unit labour costs more than other countries by labour market reforms and higher indirect taxes in replacing social taxes. However, the advantage may proof to be temporary only, for other countries will be forced to follow the German example. Given an ECB inflation target of 2 %, more competitive wage policy in the Euro area might jeopardize the stability of the currency through deflation and higher unemployment. It does not wonder that the discussion on other and new forms of macroeconomic coordination revived recently. This debate does not only include the introduction of a central EU budget with anti-cyclical effects, but also forms of direct and indirect coordination of national wage policies. In any case, it would be useful to oblige national wage policies to obey the common interest of the Union.
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