Tax revenue in Germany, on Monday were 5.6 per cent higher in September compared with the same period in 2018, according to the monthly report by the German Ministry of Finance (BMF),
According to the ministry, the main reason for the development was that almost all major national and state taxes combined, such as income tax, wage tax and capital yields tax, recorded high increase compared with Sept. 2018.
Meanwhile, the strongest increase in revenue were recorded in the energy tax, the motor vehicle tax and the insurance tax.
The BMF report showed On the other hand, revenue from aviation taxes decreased by 2.3 per cent and even 14.6 per cent in tobacco tax.
According to the report, in the period from January to September, total tax revenue in Germany amounted to around 255.7 billion euros (or 285.5 billion U.S. dollars), increasing 0.9 per cent year-on-year.
The BMF noted that the restrained economic development in Germany was primarily due to the weakness of Germany’s export-oriented industry.
Earlier, the German Government announced that real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), in Germany would only grow by 0.5 per cent in 2019 and by 1.0 per cent in 2020.
On the other hand, the government expected the inland economy to continue to generate positive momentum, supported by the solid development of the labor market; private consumption was making a positive contribution to the overall economic upturn.
The BMF report noted that the development on the German labour market had been stable.
However, in view of the economic slowdown, unemployment was expected to rise slightly in the coming year, giving an annual average unemployment rate of 5.1 per cent.
Nominal exports of goods fell by 1.8 per cent in August compared with July, after a growth of 0.8 per cent in July. Compared with same month of 2018, exports of goods were even 3.9 per cent lower.
The BMF stressed that the weak export performance should continue to reflect foreign trade risks and uncertainties as well as subdued global economic demand.
In contrast, however, nominal imports of goods were 0.5 per cent higher in August than in July, but 3.1 per cent lower than in the same month of the previous year.
