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A History of Tax Legislation in the Federal Republic of Germany

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  • Matthias Uhl

    (University of Marburg)

Abstract

This paper presents a historical account of legislated tax changes in the Federal Republic of Germany from 1964 to 2010, thus establishing a database appropriate for the macroeconometric analysis of the fiscal policy transmission mechanism. Ninety-five quantitatively important pieces of tax legislation are identified and characterized along several dimensions: Tax changes are classified as “endogenous” or “exogenous” with regard to current macroeconomic conditions, and their revenue impact and timing is reported. The evolution of tax acts is described, capturing changes in tax measures and associated revenue impacts over the whole legislative process. The exposition is also a comprehensive qualitative description of major tax changes and the motivation behind them over the last four decades.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthias Uhl, 2013. "A History of Tax Legislation in the Federal Republic of Germany," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201311, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    • Handle: RePEc:mar:magkse:201311
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    File URL: https://www.uni-marburg.de/en/fb02/research-groups/economics/macroeconomics/research/magks-joint-discussion-papers-in-economics/papers/2013-papers/11-2013_uhl.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Désirée I ChristofzikBy & Steffen Elstner, 2021. "International spillover effects of U.S. tax reforms: evidence from Germany [Output spillovers from fiscal policy]," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 73(2), pages 578-600.
    2. Ms. Era Dabla-Norris & Frederico Lima, 2018. "Macroeconomic Effects of Tax Rate and Base Changes: Evidence from Fiscal Consolidations," IMF Working Papers 2018/220, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Bernd Hayo & Sascha Mierzwa & Umut Unal, 2021. "Estimating Policy-Corrected Long-Term and Short-Term Tax Elasticities for the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202112, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    4. Hayo, Bernd & Mierzwa, Sascha, 2023. "The effect of legislated tax changes on the trade balance: Empirical evidence for the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    5. Désirée I. Christofzik & Angela Fuest & Robin Jessen, 2022. "Macroeconomic Effects of the Anticipation and Implementation of Tax Changes in Germany: Evidence from a Narrative Account," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(353), pages 62-81, January.
    6. Bernd Hayo & Matthias Uhl, 2017. "Taxation and consumption: evidence from a representative survey of the German population," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(53), pages 5477-5490, November.
    7. Dabla-Norris, Era & Lima, Frederico, 2023. "Macroeconomic effects of tax rate and base changes: Evidence from fiscal consolidations," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    8. Hayo, Bernd & Mierzwa, Sascha, 2022. "Legislative tax announcements and GDP: Evidence from the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    9. Sebastian Gechert & Christoph Paetz & Paloma Villanueva, 2016. "A Narrative Account of Legislated Social Security Changes for Germany," IMK Working Paper 170-2016, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    10. Sascha Mierzwa, 2021. "Technical Appendix: Tax Laws and Revenue Effects," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202139, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    11. Hayo, Bernd & Uhl, Matthias, 2015. "Taxation and labour supply: Evidence from a representative population survey," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 336-346.
    12. Bernd Hayo & Sascha Mierzwa & Umut Ünal, 2023. "Estimating policy-corrected long-term and short-term tax elasticities for the USA, Germany, and the United Kingdom," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 64(1), pages 465-504, January.
    13. Albrizio, Silvia & Lamp, Stefan, 2014. "The investment effect of fiscal consolidation," Economics Working Papers ECO2014/10, European University Institute.
    14. Bernd Hayo & Sascha Mierzwa, 2020. "Stock Market Reactions to Legislated Tax Changes: Evidence from the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202047, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    15. Sebastian Gechert & Christoph Paetz & Paloma Villanueva, 2016. "Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up? Reconcilling the Effects of Tax and Transfer Shocks on Output," IMK Working Paper 169-2016, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • K34 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Tax Law
    • N00 - Economic History - - General - - - General

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