The Federal Government Is Not Taking Full Advantage of Its Possibilities
The Second Coronavirus Tax Assistance Act (“Zweites Corona-Steuerhilfegesetz”) is not ambitious enough to cushion the effects of the crisis. In the way the measures are currently designed, particularly small companies benefit little from the tax reliefs. Relative to the severity of the crisis, the measures are, overall, too soft and not innovative enough. These are the results of a study conducted by a team of researchers at ZEW Mannheim and the University of Mannheim, which was published in the journal “Der Betrieb”. “With the Second Coronavirus Tax Assistance Act, legislators will achieve a fast, but rather modest boost,” concludes ZEW Research Associate Professor Christoph Spengel, who holds the Chair of Business Administration and Taxation II at the University of Mannheim. “The measures fall short of what is necessary to address the severity of the crisis. The coronavirus crisis is hitting the German economy harder than the financial crisis did. It would therefore be appropriate to introduce more far-reaching measures.”
