Federal Ministry of Finance (Germany)

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Federal Ministry of Finance
Bundesministerium der Finanzen
Agency overview
Formed1880 as the "Reichsschatzamt"
JurisdictionGovernment of Germany
HeadquartersBerlin
Minister responsible
Websitebundesfinanzministerium.de

The Federal Ministry of Finance (German: Bundesministerium der Finanzen) (BMF) is a ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is based in Berlin and Bonn. It is led by the Minister of Finance, whose office is in the Detlev-Rohwedder House in Wilhelmstraße, Berlin. This was the old Reich Air Ministry Building. The ministry is supported by a scientific advisory board.

Responsibility[change | change source]

The ministry works out how much the government can spend each year, and how to raise that money, in income tax and other taxes.

To help it do this, the ministry controls :

Federal Ministers of Finance since 1949[change | change source]

Ministers of Finance
No Name Life data Term start Term end Party
1 Fritz Schäffer 1888-1967 20 September 1949 29 October 1957 CSU
2 Franz Etzel 1902-1970 29 October 1957 14 November 1961 CDU
3 Heinz Starke 1911-2001 14 November 1961 19 November 1962 FDP
4 Rolf Dahlgrün 1908-1969 13 December 1962 28 October 1966 FDP
5 Kurt Schmücker 1919-1996 8 November 1966 30 November 1966 CDU
6 Franz Josef Strauß 1915-1988 2 December 1966 20 October 1969 CSU
7 Alexander Möller 1903-1985 22 October 1969 13 May 1971 SPD
8 Karl Schiller 1911-1994 13 May 1971 7 July 1972 SPD
9 Helmut Schmidt 1918-2015 7 July 1972 15 May 1974 SPD
10 Hans Apel 1932-2011 16 May 1974 15 February 1978 SPD
11 Hans Matthöfer 1925-2009 16 February 1978 28 April 1982 SPD
12 Manfred Lahnstein 1937- 28 April 1982 4 October 1982 SPD
13 Gerhard Stoltenberg 1928-2001 4 October 1982 21 April 1989 CDU
14 Theodor Waigel 1939- 21 April 1989 27 October 1998 CSU
15 Oskar Lafontaine 1943- 27 October 1998 18 March 1999 SPD
16 Hans Eichel 1941- 12 April 1999 22 November 2005 SPD
17 Peer Steinbrück 1947- 22 November 2005 27 October 2009 SPD
18 Wolfgang Schäuble 1942- 28 October 2009 14 March 2018 CDU
19 Olaf Scholz 1958- 14 March 2018 8 December 2021 SPD
20 Christian Lindner 1979- 8 December 2021 incumbent FDP

Between 1990 and 1993, the senior civil servant (German: Beamtete Staatssekretäre) was Horst Köhler (CDU) who went on to become Federal President in, 2004.