A study by the Institute of German Economy (IW), which was reported by Der Spiegel, indicates that German citizens desire increased government spending across key sectors-including education, infrastructure, defense, and social welfare-yet they show little willingness to fund these increases either through higher taxes or cuts in other areas.
The respondents in the survey supported higher expenditures in every one of these areas while rejecting cuts. Acceptable funding solutions varied by sector. To finance a tenfold billion Euro increase in social security, the polled citizens allowed for an annual tax hike ranging between 3.1 and 3.8 billion Euros. For investments in defense and infrastructure, the tolerable tax increases fell between 5.1 and 7.5 billion Euros.
Only in the realm of education was the willingness to pay numerically sufficient. Citizens accepted an increased personal income tax amounting to 11.5 billion Euros to cover ten billion Euros in extra educational spending. However, even for education, there was insufficient public acceptance of financing the expenditure through value-added tax (VAT). Outside of the education sector, the surveyed population was equally unwilling to cover increased spending in one area by implementing cuts in another.
