Germans like to see themselves as righteous citizens, for whom order and behavior still apply. When it comes to paying taxes, morals are not far off. It is estimated that the state escapes up to 100 billion euros every year through tax evasion. But the past two Corona years have impressively revealed how much we all depend on the tax pots in an emergency. It is therefore all the more urgent that more people decide to be honest with their tax returns at New Year’s – and to stick to this resolution.
Anyone who did not sleep through the night in school knows about the importance of taxpayers’ money. Knows that it is used to build roads and bridges, finance schools and universities and pay for the fire brigade, police and judiciary. All of this seems to some people to be too abstract for them to feel responsible to make their contribution to the community and to settle accounts with the tax authorities for what corresponds to their real earnings and turnover.
In 2020, judgments and criminal proceedings were imposed in more than 7,000 proceedings, including evaded taxes amounting to 1.2 billion euros. That gave more numbers Federal Ministry of Finance in October known. The tax investigators determined additional results of 3.3 billion euros; the fines and criminal cases of the tax offices imposed fines and monetary requirements in the tens of millions. This can rightly be assessed as a success of the tax authorities, but also as a diagnosis of how things are in terms of tax compliance in this country. Namely bad.
Now is the third year with a pandemic, of which it is still not known when it will end. Fighting them has cost hundreds of billions of euros so far – for rapid tests, air filters, vaccines, vaccination centers, for example. Around 75 billion euros alone are accounted for by the payments and loans to companies and self-employed people who have got into financial hardship as a result of the Corona measures. With the taxes of each and every individual, an unprecedented aid program is currently being lifted.
In addition, there was the flood disaster in July, which caused great damage to people and the environment in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. There, too, enormous sums of money are needed from the tax pots to support the victims, to rebuild their living space and to prepare for further disasters.
Given such concrete examples, the attitude of many towards tax honesty is shameful. This does not only apply to millionaires who hide parts of their wealth in tax havens – even if, of course, they cause the greatest damage. But it also applies to all the supposedly small cheats. For example, when freelancers rededicate private dinners to business lunches with a hospitality receipt in order to reduce their income and thus their tax burden. Or when craftsmen and cleaning workers work illegally, a phenomenon that could be exacerbated by the pandemic. The more citizens cheat on a small scale, the greater the damage as a whole.
After all, with regard to undeclared work, some entrepreneurs received a receipt in the pandemic. Because those who had bypassed the till for years could not apply for immediate assistance and support because of their lower legal income. But whether this will lead to a rethink in industries such as construction or gastronomy is questionable.
In any case, defrauding the tax authorities is neither a sin nor a trivial offense, it is criminal. Basically, most of them realize that their behavior is socially harmful. They like to refer to “the others” who, when in doubt, do “much worse”. And it cannot be dismissed out of hand that a tax scandal like Cum-Ex reaches a completely different dimension of damage and institutional audacity than withholding a few hundred euros from the tax authorities.
But even if it is much legitimate criticism of it shows how Germany is positioned in the fight against tax fraud – an important part of the responsibility always rests with the individual. Those who see the biggest mistakes in the others may be right, but still be part of the problem.