German tax income on the rise

The combined tax income of the federal government, the regional states and communities totaled 47.88 billion euros ($56.93 billion) in August, a report by the German Finance Ministry showed Thursday.

The figure marked a 6.8-percent increase year on year, while tax revenue had already soared by 9.7 percent a month earlier.

The ministry said it expected the domestic economy to remain strong for the rest of the year, ensuring continued low unemployment across Europe's powerhouse.

Shipments abroad going from strength to strength

It added that a pickup in global economic activities had supported German exports as a major driver of growth and with it tax income.

"But it's also stronger domestic consumption that has fueled the German economy, that is a mixture of private consumption and higher corporate investments," the ministry said in its latest report.

While combined tax revenue increased considerably in July and August, the federal state saw its income decrease by 9.7 percent in July as a result of a one-off effect.

Berlin had to make interest payments on a nuclear fuel tax it had illegally collected from the country's operators of nuclear plants, E.ON, RWE and EnBW, leaving the finance ministry with 976 million euros les in revenue for the month.

hg/jd (dpa, Reuters)