German tax revenues down 25 pct YoY in April

Source: Xinhua | 2020-05-23

Germany's tax revenues declined by 25.3 percent in April year-on-year (YoY) due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's Ministry of Finance said on Friday.

The overall decline was "primarily driven" by a drop by nearly a third in so-called joint taxes paid to Germany's national government, states and municipalities. Value-added taxes were "the most significant contributing factor," with such revenues down 37.6 percent YoY.

On Wednesday, four German economic associations, including the German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA), jointly demanded quick tax relief and said that "Corporate taxes must be reduced to an internationally competitive level, and corporate tax law must be structurally modernized to provide additional economic stimulus and keep companies in the business."

According to the ministry, "assessed income tax, corporation tax and aviation tax also posted substantial declines in revenue. "Aviation taxes even collapsed by 95.2 percent as air traffic was grounded "to an almost complete halt due to the pandemic."