German Tax Revenue Rose 6.9% in September

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s federal and state governments’ tax revenues rose 6.9% in September compared with the same month last year, the finance ministry said on Tuesday.

The federal and state governments’ tax revenue reached a total of 86.2 billion euros ($93.54 billion) last month, according to the ministry’s monthly report.

This follows a 5.3% rise in tax revenues in August and a 7.9% decrease in July. Lacklustre economic growth has made for a very volatile tax take this year.

Tax revenue rose by 2.9% from January through September when compared with the same period last year, and reached 626 billion euros.

For full-year 2024, analysts forecast tax revenue will increase to 863.68 billion euros, up 4.1% from the previous year, according to the report.

The new tax estimate will be published on Thursday.

The German economy unexpectedly contracted 0.1% in the second quarter, and the finance ministry does not currently see a strong economic recovery on the horizon: “The short-term economic outlook remains gloomy,” it said in the report.

In its latest forecast, the German government expects the economy to contract by 0.2% this year, which is likely to make it for the second year running the only member of the Group of Seven major industrial democracies to post shrinking output.

Next year, the economy is expected to grow by 1.1%, then by 1.6% in 2026. That is based on the assumption that private consumption will support economic momentum and disposable income will be on an upward trend, the ministry said.

($1 = 0.9215 euros)

(Reporting by Christian Kraemer and Rene Wagner; Writing by Miranda Murray; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)