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In late 1998, the new coalition government in Germany announced the first step in a massive restructuring of the tax system, one that would simultaneously reduce taxes on wages and raise them on energy use. In April 1999, the first of four annual tax shifts was implemented. This ecological tax shift of some $14 billion -- the largest yet contemplated by any government -- was taken unilaterally, not bogged down in the politics of the global climate treaty or contingent on steps taken elsewhere. The framers of the new tax structure justified it primarily on economic grounds, mainly the creation of additional jobs. |
income tax reform ecology economics government taxation |
