(Steering without taxes; 05-02; p.2)
The interesting question apart from day-to-day
necessities is, what caused this precarious state and how it can
be overcome structurally.
The state of Germany's nation
Obviously, the bank has not been broken yet:
the government is still able to fulfil its social obligations
as stipulated in Germany's Basic Law that serves as constitution
and the country is far from Argentinian conditions.
But the Minister of Finance and his federal
and communal colleagues complain in unison about massive tax losses.
That comes with the fact that the state's new loans in 2002 will
sum up to more than three percent of its gross domestic product,
i.e. the value of all products and services generated in Germany
this year.
So, the government is breaking one of the criteria of the Maastricht-treaty
and therefore has to count in some penalty, too. The intention
for such a clause is to penalise indebting oneself at will by
imposing extra-costs; as consequence however, debtors will find
it increasingly hard to balance their accounts if they can pay
their penalties only by new loans.
On the other hand, the state - defined as comprising
every government and civil service body on all administrative
levels - spends tax money for several purposes. In an indefinite
summary these are:
• spendings to guarantee the very existence of society, i.e. the
budget for defence;
• spendings to keep society functional, i.e. budgets for infrastructure
or the police;
• social spendings, i.e. budgets for transfer pays like social
security or spendings for health and pensions;
• spendings for goods and services offered by political will,
i.e. collective goods like public libraries, pools, parks or subsidies
for solar cells manufactured by German firms, cultural foundations,
societies.
Besides, the state itself needs tax money to function. (read
on here)