Overview
- Destatis, which published the wage and income tax statistics on Wednesday, reported that about 3.2 million taxpayers or 7.4% of filers were taxed at the 42% marginal rate in 2022 and together generated 49% of income tax receipts.
- Those taxpayers had average taxable annual income of roughly €196,000 and the 42% rate in 2022 kicked in at a taxable income of €58,597 for singles, with the rate applied only to income above that threshold.
- A much smaller group of about 141,000 people, or 0.3% of taxpayers, had taxable income above €277,826 and accounted for 15.3% of income tax revenue by paying the 45% top rate on income above that level.
- Total taxable income in 2022 was about €2.1 trillion and employer‑withheld wage tax plus assessed income tax reached €376 billion, up €19 billion from 2021, showing rising revenue concentrated at higher margins.
- The official data refer to the 2022 assessment year and were released with the standard multi‑year delay, a timing detail that gives weight to current policy debates and could affect how any reform would adjust thresholds, relief for lower incomes, or the reach of the top rates.