German federal and state tax revenues grew by 11.5 per cent in July compared with a year earlier, the finance ministry said today.
Tax receipts for the first seven months of the year also showed an increase, rising by 8.1 per cent in the first seven months of the year, compared with the same period in 2005.
"The economic improvement is increasingly clearly showing up in the tax receipts," said the ministry in its monthly report, adding that wage and sales tax revenues were showing significant signs of improvement.
Stronger growth in Europe's biggest economy has led to an increase in tax income that Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck has said will boost expected revenue by about €7 billion.
According to a preliminary estimate, Europe's largest economy grew by 0.9 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the April-June period, the best quarterly performance in more than five years.
The finance ministry said wage and sales tax revenues were showing significant signs of improvement, with wage tax income up 3.4 per cent in July and revenue for sales levies 14.1 per cent higher than in the same month a year earlier.
"The acceleration in wage tax growth in recent months could be a sign that the economic recovery has reached the labour market," the ministry said.
However, it noted that the increase in wage tax income was smaller than the 5.0 annual gain in June, a development it attributed to moderate wage accords.
The gain in sales tax revenue was underpinned by a one-off effect in one federal state, the ministry said, adding that the August tax take would show a corresponding adjustment.