AlHijjah 8, 1432, Nov 4, 2011, SPA -- Germany expects its tax take this year to come in ?16.2 billion ($22.3 billion) higher than previously forecast, which should help the country balance its budget by 2016 at the latest, the government said Friday, AP reported. The new tax projection forecasts a total German tax take this year of ?571.2 billion - up from the ?555 billion estimated in May. Referring to the eurozone's debt woes and the pressure on many governments to bring their budgets under control, Kampeter said "Germany demands discipline from many countries, therefore we also have to always be a model." The 2011 projection was already revised upward in May, and the new estimate provides the government further leeway to cut its 2011 budget deficit down from an expected ?48 billion to "less than half" of that, Kampeter said. That would bring the deficit down to about 1 percent of GDP - well below the 3 percent deficit ceiling mandated by the eurozone. As growth in Germany's economy - Europe's biggest - shows signs of slowing, the Finance Ministry expects next year's tax take to be only slightly higher than projected in May, up by ?7.4 billion to ?584.6 billion. For the years 2011 through 2015 the government's new estimate expects a combined ?39.5 billion of additional tax take compared with the May projection. Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right coalition recently announced plans to ease the problem of small increases in income being eaten up by earners moving into higher tax brackets starting 2013. It hasn't yet determined how to do that. The coalition has squabbled on and off for nearly two years over whether and how to deliver on pledges of tax relief. Anton Boerner, the head of the country's BGA exporters association, called on the government to swiftly implement those "long overdue" tax cuts. But Germany's main opposition party, the Social Democrats, said tax cuts "would be irresponsible" given the current uncertain economic outlook for the coming years. -- SPA
