German tax revenues up more than 15% in July -finance minister

BERLIN, Aug 24 (Reuters) – Tax revenues of Germany’s federal and regional state governments jumped 15.1% in July compared to the same month last year, due to the base effect of tax relief measures introduced in 2022, the finance ministry said on Thursday.

Federal and state governments’ tax revenue rose to 69.3 billion euros ($75.28 billion) in July, according to the ministry’s monthly report.

Revenue volumes have been volatile in recent months, distorted by various one-off effects. In 2022, there were numerous tax relief measures for consumers and businesses as energy prices skyrocketed in the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

While those 2022 measures had an upward impact in the year-on-year comparison, weak imports and private consumer spending dampened tax revenues, especially in the case of taxes on sales, according to the finance ministry.

“The economic situation remains gloomy,” the report said.

According to initial estimates, the technical recession in the winter half-year 2022 to 2023 has turned into stagnation in the second quarter.

Leading indicators do not point to a noticeable revival of momentum in the short term, the ministry said.

In the first seven months of the year, tax revenues totalled 469.03 billion euros, up only 0.2% compared with the same period of 2022.

For the whole of 2023, experts have forecast a 2.9% increase in tax revenues to 838.19 billion euros, according to the finance ministry report.

($1 = 0.9206 euros)

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