BERLIN: The German government's tax take rose 7.8 percent on the year in September to 54.7 billion euros, a finance ministry report showed on Monday, reflecting renewed strength in Europe's largest economy.
"Companies' profitability, expansion in private consumption and wage rises for employees and independent workers are having an effect," the ministry said in its monthly report.
Germany collected 416.4 billion euros in taxes between January and September, 3.2 percent more than over the same period in 2012.
The rise in tax take is welcome news for Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has benefited from the resilience of the economy, buoyed by strong private demand as well as a solid labour market and robust wage rises.
Merkel's conservatives won a landslide victory in an election on Sept 22 but fell just short of an absolute majority and are entering formal coalition talks with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD). The SPD has demanded tax hikes to finance infrastructure projects.
The tax take, albeit volatile in monthly swings, is an indicator for future economic development and the finance ministry said the economy was "pointing upwards".
Gross domestic product grew by 0.7 percent in the second quarter. Economists polled by Reuters expect it grew by 0.3 percent in the third quarter and will expand by 0.4 percent in the final three months of the year.
Comments
Comments are closed.