Tax fears spread: 84 percent of Germans fear higher taxes

The vast majority of German citizens fear increased financial burdens from taxes and tariffs. This was the result of an exclusive Civey survey for FOCUS online.

Accordingly, he answered the question. “Are you concerned that taxes and the tax burden could continue to increase over the next five years?” 84 percent said yes. Only 9 percent of Germans are not worried about this.

The representative online survey carried out among around 5,000 German citizens over 18 years of age also revealed great discontent among people with the current tax system and the level of the tax burden.

Most fear greater financial burdens

• 85 percent of those surveyed feel this way tax burden considered “too high” for people with normal incomes. Only 9 percent see it differently.
• 93 percent think so. Tax regulations in Germany for “too complicated.” Almost half of all citizens (45 percent) can only complete their tax return with outside help, such as a tax advisor. 86 percent do not believe the federal government can “significantly simplify” tax regulations.

• 73 percent think so. tax system for “unfair.” This attitude is particularly pronounced among AfD supporters (84 percent) and the left (80 percent). But many supporters of the Union (72 percent) also share this opinion; for the SPD and the Greens it is 66 and 65 percent respectively. Only FDP supporters are largely satisfied with the tax system. Only 48 percent of this group think it is “unfair.”
• Only 18 percent think that tax money They are generally “used sensibly” in Germany. The clear majority (72 percent) sees it differently. This opinion is particularly strong among workers (80 percent). By contrast, only 54 percent of officials express doubts about the judicious use of taxpayer money.

• 86 percent of Germans know him personally. Projectsin which the State “has obviously used considerable amounts of taxpayers' money senselessly.”
• Only 40 percent of Germans receive it after handing in theirs. Annual declaration of taxes “normally the refund of money from the tax office.” This group includes a surprising number of officials (60 percent) and employees (57 percent), but relatively few workers (42 percent). According to their own data, around a third of citizens (31 percent) generally do not receive any refunds from the tax office.

FOCUS online also wanted to know what German citizens think about the issue of tax-financed development aid. Recently, some projects have given rise to heated public debates, such as the million-dollar subsidies for bicycle lanes in Peru. Many voices criticized Germany for “wasting” tax money abroad. The attitude of German citizens on this issue is clear:

• 71 percent of Germans believe that the federal government “Tax-financed development aid to other countries”. 18 percent would like to keep it at the current level and 10 percent would even invest more money in development aid.

• In particular, workers are in favor of reducing development aid (78 percent), while only 62 percent of officials are in favor of reducing development aid.
• In relation to political parties, the following picture emerges: 99 percent of AfD supporters want Germany to provide less development aid. For the CDU/CSU it is 88 percent and for the FDP it is 76 percent. Among Green Party supporters, only 26 percent favor a cut, and the same number (26 percent) even want to expand development aid.