Tax expenditures are granted for a variety of purposes in Germany. They were significantly reduced in December 2003. After the general election in 2005, additional reductions of the tax expenditures were decided upon; however, new measures were introduced, too. The paper presents data on the extent and the structure of the tax expenditures in the period 2003 to 2008 as well as in the period 2009 to 2012. Given the present state of legislation, tax expenditures will go down significantly until 2012.