July 12, 2023, 5:12 a.m. – from now on, German citizens will again work on average for their own wallet. This is the conclusion reached by the German Taxpayers Institute (DSi) of the Taxpayers Association (BdSt). Income received by employees from the beginning of the year up to that time went to the state in the form of taxes and levies. By 2023, they should have donated an average of 52.7% of their income to the state. In other words, for every euro that citizens earn, they are left with an average of 47.3 cents.

“Citizens don’t work for nothing in the first half of the year, of course!”, explains Reiner Holznagel, president of the BdSt. Important services for citizens would be financed by taxes, levies and compulsory contributions. “At the same time, the taxpayers’ memorial day reveals that more than half of the income generated by employees is still redistributed and administered by the state – despite all the political aid plans,” says Holznagel.

Indirect taxes have fallen

Taxpayer’s Memorial Day is even earlier in 2023 than last year. In 2022, it fell on July 13. The charge has since declined by 0.3 percentage points. The taxpayers’ association attributes the small minus mainly to the fact that indirect taxes have fallen, for example the sales tax rate for natural gas. Citizens do not pay indirect taxes directly on their salary but, for example, when they buy goods.

The taxpayer’s memorial day refers to a representative average household of 2.3 people, with a gross monthly salary of EUR 5,755 and a total monthly taxable income of EUR 7,113. On average, €855 is spent on income tax and €2,254 on social contributions. The DSi uses the latest data from the Federal Statistical Office from 2021 and extrapolates the values ​​for the current year.

One-person households pay more

It is striking to note that single-person households pay more taxes and taxes on average. They donate an average of 53.7% of their salary to the state – with a total income of 4737 euros. This means that July 15 is Taxpayer Memorial Day for single-person households. Households of several people have an average total income of 8,318 euros and are burdened with 52.4% of taxes and duties. Your Taxpayer Memorial Day is already July 11. All these values ​​are forecasts because the year 2023 is not over yet. The BdSt has created a calculator that citizens can use to calculate their Taxpayer Memorial Day and compare it with others. To do this, they must declare their income and consumption habits.

The idea of ​​the taxpayer’s memorial day comes from the United States and is also proclaimed by various think tanks in Canada and Britain, among others. The Taxpayers Association announces the day each year. The Taxpayers Association is a registered non-profit association considered liberal or neoliberal. The day of action also repeatedly arouses criticism, among other things because the benefits that citizens receive for their taxes are hardly discussed.