Die deutsche Bildungsmisere und der Bundesstaat

Wirtschaftsdienst - Die unbefriedigenden Zustände im Bildungswesen haben viel mit der föderalen Struktur des Landes zu tun. Grundsätzlich ist die Bildung Ländersache, aber in...     

Steuerzerlegung, Wirtschafts- und Steuerkraft

The local breakdown of the German Länder shares of tax revenues is hardly considered as a political or legal problem. Its purpose is to correct the results of the technical procedures of tax collection in order to distribute the revenues among the Länder according to their economic strength. This objective is hardly achieved. On the contrary, the shortcomings of the breakdown considerably intensify the problems of fiscal equalisation among the Länder. The question has to be raised whether or not the breakdown of revenues according to their “true” local origin is still appropriate within a highly integrated economy.     

Die verbogene Verfassung — zur Neuregelung der Bund-Länder-Finanzbeziehungen ab 2020

The federal legislature has adopted a new system of intergovernmental fiscal relations from 2020 onwards which will change the federal structure of Germany considerably. In particular, the abolition of the horizontal equalisation among the Länder (Länderfinanzausgleich) and its replacement by an equalisation of fiscal power (Finanzkraftausgleich) within the distribution of the revenues of sales taxes changes the underlying structure of the German federal state fundamentally. The new legislation indicates this shift of the federal balance: the federation will take over the construction of motorways completely. Federal authorities also gain new powers in controlling the use of federal funds by the Länder. Instead of a balance of the federation and the Länder we will get a dominance of the federation.