Tax Per Second

The German tax burden is notoriously high, but it hides well. A bit of wage tax here, social contributions there, VAT at the till, energy tax at the pump - all in small bites, never as one number. Tax Per Second collects all these bites and lets them run up as a ticking counter before your eyes. It is the most honest visualisation of your tax load there is.

The ticker starts with your gross income and calculates your total annual burden from it. Direct taxes first: income tax under the official tariff function, the solidarity surcharge and, if you belong to a church, church tax. Then social insurance with health, care, pension and unemployment insurance. From the annual total, the values per day, hour, minute and second are derived.

Indirect taxes are the part almost every calculator ignores. VAT on nearly everything you buy, energy tax on fuel and heating, tobacco and coffee tax - the tax authority also reaches in when you spend your net. Tax Per Second estimates this indirect share and makes visible that your real tax rate is considerably higher than what the payslip shows.

The Tax Freedom Day answers the question vividly: from which day of the year do you work for yourself instead of the state? The calculator determines the date on which you have statistically worked off your entire tax and contribution load. For many it falls deep in summer - a date that says more than any percentage.

Comparison profiles put your situation in context. What does the ticker look like for a nurse, a high earner, a family? You can switch between typical profiles and instantly see how differently the tax burden is spread across income levels. The breakdown as pie and area charts shows which item hits you most.

Everything runs directly in your browser, without your income figures leaving your device. This is not a tax assessment and not tax advice - individual allowances, work-related expenses and special cases are missing. But as a wake-up call, a conversation starter and an honest look at what work really costs in Germany, Tax Per Second is hard to beat.