BDrivers in the capital are hit particularly hard – parking here will be up to 50 percent more expensive on New Year’s Day: Instead of 1, 2 or 3 euros per hour, it’s 2, 3 or 4 euros for 60 minutes. It is still unclear to what extent residents who benefit from special vignettes have to pay more. The red-green-red alliance has determined in the coalition agreement to increase the fees to 10 euros per month. At 120 euros a year it would be a drastic increase in costs, after all the residents are currently paying 20.40 euros for two years.
This increase has not yet been decided. Will the state government have the courage to push this through before the state elections on February 12? That is not to be expected. But postponed does not mean canceled. What is certain, however, is that garbage collection and street cleaning in Berlin are becoming more expensive. The Berliner Stadtreinigung will increase the fees by around 7 percent in 2023/2024.
The cupping of car owners in Berlin is certainly an extreme case, but it shows what is possible. Many municipalities are turning the screw on fees or the rates for property tax and trade tax. The taxpayers’ association asked around for the FAZ. Because municipal taxes are usually discussed and decided with the households, which in many cases is still pending, the picture is still incomplete. But there are already interesting resolutions, sometimes painful, sometimes astonishing and in some cases even exculpatory.
In many places property tax increases
It is reported from Hesse that Oberursel is increasing property tax B from 750 to 947 points, which affects both owners and tenants, since the burden is passed on to the utility bill. In addition, the town of 46,500 inhabitants in the Hochtaunus district decided to raise the cemetery fees. Lampertheim in the Bergstraße district increases property tax B from 460 to 580 points and property tax A (which farmers and forest companies pay) from 330 to 430 points. In addition, the dog tax and day care center fees are increasing there. Friedrichsdorf in the Hochtaunus district launched a sweeping attack: Property taxes A and B increased from 450 to 595 points, trade tax from 357 to 400 points; in addition, the fees for waste, sewage and water are climbing there.
The municipality of Groß-Umstadt in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district discussed several new petty taxes, for example on cats and horses. The city parliament rejected this, but instead there is a second home tax of 10 percent on the rental value. Darmstadt introduces a bed tax. The smaller municipality of Hohenstein in the Rheingau-Taunus district was considering a brutal increase in property tax B (from 735 to 1135 points) and trade tax (from 380 to 500 points). Both were rejected by the municipal parliament. Instead, the dog tax and daycare fees will be increased. A small reduction is reported from Langen in the Offenbach district, where property tax B drops from 855 to 850 points.
States put a strain on local finances
In North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, the state associations of taxpayers fear large-scale tax increases because the governments in Düsseldorf and Mainz have raised the standards for allocations from the state treasury or municipal financial equalization. “In a good 60 percent of all NRW cities and communities, property tax could become more expensive next year. The next wave of tax increases for housing is approaching,” the taxpayers’ association warned after the state government had proposed higher so-called “fictitious tax rates”. On December 20th, the state parliament passed the Municipal Financing Act 2023.
In Rhineland-Palatinate not only the municipal financial equalization will be reformed on January 1st. With it, the so-called leveling rates for property taxes and trade tax, on which most municipalities are based, will be increased. At the same time, the so-called partnership for debt relief for local authorities is running there. The association of taxpayers fears that the participating municipalities will have to increase real taxes. In addition, the Ministry of the Interior in Mainz has instructed the municipal supervisory authority that deficit municipalities must always counter-finance their investments. In practice, this will result in higher property taxes and higher petty taxes such as dog or entertainment taxes, the interest group judged.
In Lower Saxony, the coalition of taxpayers expects a widespread increase in property tax or trade tax – or even both. He not only refers to a survey by the consulting firm EY, according to which 35 percent of the municipalities just surveyed in the state are planning this, but also looked at the budget consultations in the Hanover region: there, 7 of 21 municipalities belonging to the region are currently planning to adjust their tax rates or have this decided. The planned increase in property tax by 100 percentage points in the state capital (from 600 to 700 percent) is likely to prove particularly serious, even if this is not to take effect until January 1, 2024. “The assessment rates of the state capital serve as an absolute upper limit for many municipalities, which should not be exceeded for political reasons,” it says. In addition, cities want to generate higher revenues in the future, especially with parking space management.
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the citizens of Rostock, Ribnitz-Damgarten and Neubukow have to adjust to higher loads. Minor adjustments to the fees for waste, street cleaning and sewage are reported from Hamburg. There are no dramatic reports from Baden-Württemberg, Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein. The Bavarian State Association is not aware of any higher municipal taxes at the turn of the year.
