Germany bracing for €81.5b drop in 2020 tax revenues

Germany expects to collect €81.5 billion ($87.9 billion) less in tax revenues this year compared to 2019, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday.

This is a 10-per-cent drop and means that federal, state and district authorities will have 98.6 billion euros less to spend than forecast in November, as the coronavirus pandemic tears up the country’s previous budgets.

It is the first time that state coffers are expected to decline in Europe’s biggest economy since 2009 during the financial crash.

In calculating its estimate, the Finance Ministry put the cost of the government’s coronavirus aid measures at €453.4 billion in 2020 alone, not including an additional 800 billion euros in loans that may have to be extended if struggling companies are unable to meet their credit obligations.

Source: dpa