Das steuerpolitische Dezemberfieber: Steuergesetzgebung in Deutschland von 1951 bis 2004

摘要

Public complaints about the growth, complexity and volatility of tax legislation abound. Against this background, the present article gives an account of the quantitative development of tax legislation in post-war Germany. We find that the legislative output did not increase over the decades. In general, the output is higher during the 12 months before a federal election than during the first 12 months after. Furthermore, the legislative output is not affected by a split majority in the upper and lower houses. Finally, we find that an increasing fraction of this legislation is passed in December. This growing "December fever" reduces the available time to adapt for taxpayers, tax-lawyers, and tax authorities and is a plausible explanation of the growing discontent with tax policy.