Nearly half of all tax revenue comes from taxes on income (including the corporation tax). The wages tax is the one which affects the average person most of all. Employers deduct it from wages and salaries and remit it to the tax office.

The rate of taxation rises with the individual’s income. Pursuant to the 1996 income tax schedule, the rate is at least 25.9 percent and at most 53 percent of taxable income. Incomes of up to about DM 12,000 per year in the case of single persons and of up to about DM 24,000 per year in the case of married couples are exempt from taxation.

The second largest source of revenue is the turnover tax (value-added tax and import turnover tax). It accounts for nearly one third of all tax revenue. The mineral oilduty and the trade tax each generate between six percent and eight percent of tax revenue.