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Doesn't matter what terms you slam on it, in the end very few coins enter your pocket / stay there (I'm looking at you, vat) in Germany even if you just have a

• valenterry 4y ago
  It doesn't matter for what ends up in your pocket from your paycheck in the end. But it still matters quite a bit. If you just see "deductions: 42%" on your paycheck, that's different from seeing "3% tax because you don't have children, 4% tax because you live in west Germany, ...". It helps you understand your life situation's impact on what ends up in your pocket and it also educates people in some way, e.g. there will be more public discussions if it's still necessary for western Germany to support eastern Germany if the impact is immediately visible on your paycheck. In addition, since pension is not a tax, it matters both in the sense that higher pension contributions lower the tax you pay _and_ it also matters in that you earn claims against the state for receiving pension later on. Pension contributions are protected very differently by German law compared to if it were just a tax and you would gain welfare from the state when you stop working. This might be a nitty gritty detail, but it starts to matter when people want to change pension distributions - e.g. some changes suddenly might require 2/3 of the parliaments votes instead of a simple majority vote. I could go on, but I think that's enough food for the mind.