Grunderwerbsteuer im Länderfinanzausgleich: Umverteilung der Zusatzlast der Besteuerung

Apart from Bavaria and Saxony, all Federal States in Germany have considerably raised property transfer taxes in recent years. There is empirical evidence that increasing property transfer taxes leads to lower turnover on real estate markets. The corresponding negative fiscal impact is partly counterbalanced in the German fiscal equalisation scheme. This paper explicates the relationship between tax hikes and the transfer volume and calculates the responses of the fiscal equalisation scheme in various scenarios.     

Plädoyer für einen Ersatz der Grunderwerbsteuer

Since Germany reformed its federal structure in 2006, federal states have been able to set their own rates of real-estate transfer tax. This limited tax autonomy at state level has resulted in a rate increase to 6.5%, which suggests that a narrow tax base is being exploited for purely fiscal purposes. The weaknesses of the real-estate transfer tax can be eliminated by integrating it into value-added tax. States’ lost revenue can be offset by increasing their share of value-added tax. The resulting horizontal revenue shifts between federal states are an advantage compared with today’s unjust tax burden differences.     

Klimaschutz im Verkehrssektor — aktuelle Beispiele aus der Verkehrsforschung

Decarbonising the transport sector will be one of the biggest challenges in the future. Current innovations in the transport sector will be used to identify greenhouse gas emission reduction methods and the associated costs. Economists from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have compiled current research results from various DLR institutes which have revealed that a wide range of technological and organisational innovations for reducing climate-related emissions are available with varying market maturity. Increasing technological efficiency alone, however, is not enough to achieve the ambitious climate targets. Good policies are also essential to take things to the next level.     

Warum der frühe Ausstieg aus der finanziellen Repression lohnt

The authors argue that the attempt to reduce debt via financial repression is undermining growth and prosperity in industrialised countries. The increasing number of zombie companies and stagnating productivity growth are reminiscent of the financial repression used in the planned economies of Eastern Europe in the Cold War years. Historical evidence suggests that an exit from low interest rate policies and a return to market principles are needed to restore growth and stability.     

Der Ausgleichstarif im hessischen kommunalen Finanzausgleich: ein Vorbild für andere Länder?

The municipal financial equalisation scheme in Hesse was reformed in 2016. This article discusses to what extent the new scheme levels the disparities between municipalities’ revenue-raising abilities and their financing needs. Special consideration is given to the financial grants paid to financially weak municipalities as well as the solidarity levy paid by financially strong municipalities. The new compensation tariff is a good compromise between efficiency goals and distributive goals.     

Der Investitionsaufschwung blieb aus: das Prognosejahr 2015 im Rückblick

When publishing short term forecasts, economists have to reveal their beliefs, e.g. on the duration, shape, and driving forces of business cycles. Against this background, this article analyses the forecasts for 2015 provided by 15 national and international institutions for Germany. In all forecasts, expected GDP growth did not deviate very much from the provisional figure published in January 2016. In a short period in autumn 2014, forecasts were revised downward, owing in particular to a considerable downward revision of investment in equipment. The GDP forecasts thereafter returned to their initial value, now driven by private consumption which benefitted from the decline of oil prices. As expected, GDP was driven by domestic demand, but net exports unexpectedly also contributes positively to growth. Interestingly, forecasts of export growth remained quite robust with respect to changes in world trade forecasts. Another interesting feature is that investment in equipment did not play the expected role as a driver of the business cycle. Finally, private consumption grew almost as expected, but more than likely for other reasons than assumed in the first forecasts.     

Für einen einfachen,transparenten und effizienten Finanzausgleich

Tax revenues are allocated to the “Länder”-budgets in a very complicated process which lacks any transparency and unsurprisingly has been (and is currently) the subject of numerous legal suits at the Federal Constitutional Court. But the most striking feature of the whole system is its final outcome: a nearly equal distribution (per head) of tax revenues among all 16 states. If that is the aim, the process could be achieved much more easily. The authors suggest a central tax administration, a political determination of the state’s tax share and a distribution of that share among the single states according to the population, partly weighted with the states domestic product per head. Such a system is simple and transparent and apt to fulfill distributional as well as allocational purposes.     

Wettbewerbsveränderungen im Kontext der Smart-Meter-Einführung in Deutschland

Triggered by the “Messstellenbetriebsgesetz” (metering point operations act), millions of electricity end-users and operators of decentralised energy production facilities face the re placement of their electricity meters by networked intelligent measurement systems (iMS; also better known as smart meters) in Germany in the coming years. Against the background of the legal context of iMS and an overview of their new capabilities, the present article discusses competitive effects of their launch on (1) companies that supply key iMS components to the electricity sector and (2) iMS operators. The analysis reveals that the increasing deployment of decentralised plants generating power from renewable sources, in conjunction with the digitalisation of electricity networks, paradoxically promote a decrease in the number of viable metering point operators. This leads to an increase in market concentration among iMS operation suppliers in favour of large scale utilities and financially strong players from outside the electricity industry which sell billing services covering various ancillary consumption costs of rental flats.     

Europas künftige Rentenkluft

There is a significant variation in demographic development among European Union (EU) member states. Using the UN’s Population Prospects, we examine how different retirement ages in selected EU countries would lead to comparable relations between the working-age population and pensioners in the future. In the coming decades, it seems that the French would be able to take retirement roughly four years earlier than Germans. There is, therefore, no apparent economic justification for the suggested alignment of retirement ages in accordance with the current German regulation, as is sometimes suggested. Even the EU Commission has prioritised life expectancy in its recommendations for greater sustainability in the pension system, despite the fact that it is an insufficient indicator.     

Unerwünschte Veränderungen der realen Finanzkraftreihenfolge im Länderfinanzausgleich

Given that the current fiscal equalisation scheme needs to be changed by 2019, this paper looks at reform proposals for the fiscal transfer system in Germany to take account of differences in regional purchasing power across states, i.e. differences in the costs of providing public goods and services. Two different reform proposals for a modified transfer system are examined. The first one extends the current fiscal transfer system by additionally allowing for disparities in regional purchasing power across states; the second one links fiscal transfer payments entirely to disparities in regional purchasing power across states. The results show that a transfer system that explicitly accounts for differences in regional purchasing power across states would noticeably reduce the actual volume of redistribution.     

Wege aus der europäischen Staatsschuldenkrise

Zeitgespr?ch

Wege aus der europ?ischen Staatsschuldenkrise     

Gaslieferungen aus Russland können kurzfristig nicht kompensiert werden

Wirtschaftsdienst - As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, more and more people are calling for a ban on Russian energy imports. The proponents argue that abstaining from importing...     

Pflege aus der Kräuterküche: Erlaubt ist,was gefällt?

Rechtliche Sicherheit bei der Verwendung von Tee, Kohlblatt & Co. - Die Anwendung von Kr?utern oder Heilpflanzen in der Pflege erfreut sich wachsender Beliebtheit. Doch nicht alles, was angewendet wird, ist in dieser Form auch erlaubt. Was müssen Sie beachten, um rechtlich auf der sicheren Seite zu stehen?     

Negative Einlagezinsen im Euroraum? Lehren aus Dänemark

The ECB’s interest rate reduction in November 2013 has intensified the discussion about negative deposit rates in the euro area. The experience in Denmark has shown however that the efficient implementation of these rates would be necessary. In particular, loopholes would need to be closed and opposing actions avoided. Following this, the ECB would have to introduce the negative deposit rate not only on the deposit facility but also on excess reserves in its current accounts. Moreover, minimum reserve requirements should be abolished to raise the effectiveness of negative deposit rates.