BERLIN, May 11 (Reuters) - Germany has raised its overall tax revenue estimates for this year by 7.9 billion euros, Finance Minster Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Thursday and promised to cut taxes thanks to an economic upswing and record-high employment.

“The federal government has delivered on its fiscal promises. First we balanced the federal budget, then we made additional funds for investments available,” Schaeuble said.

“Now tax cuts can follow in the next legislative period,” said Schaeuble, a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, less than five months before a federal election.

He reiterated he saw scope to lower taxes by 0.5 percent of Germany’s gross domestic product, which would come to roughly 15 billion euros.

The finance ministry’s panel of tax experts put this year’s total tax take - including Germany’s federal, state, municipal and EU revenues - at 732.4 billion euros, up from the last estimate of 724.5 billion euros in November.

For the longer 2017-21 period, the German state is projected to have a higher tax take of 54.1 billion euros compared to the previous estimate. (Reporting by Michael Nienaber and Joseph Nasr; Editing by Madeline Chambers)