Consumers may cut back on spending now that the main rate of VAT (value-added tax) has returned to 17.5% after 13 months at 15% to counter the recession.
We decided to put all our eggs in one basket and combine a high value-added tax of 28% we'll lower it a little after the danger of hyper-inflation has passed with liberalisation.
Just when German consumers seem to have recovered their confidence, after years of low wage-growth and worries about jobs and pensions, the government wants to raise value-added tax by three percentage points next January.