The municipalities in Germany took the highest property taxes since 1991: around 14.2 billion euros. This was reported by the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden.
In 2017, the revenue for both property tax types was just under 14 billion euros.
If all so-called real taxes added together - property tax A, property tax B and trade tax - the municipalities got 2018 around 70 billion euros. That was 3.2 billion euros or 4.8 percent more than in 2017.
13.8 billion euros came from the property tax B - it is charged for developed and buildable land. The municipalities received 1.8 percent more than in the previous year. Saarland was the country with the highest growth of 6.4 percent. With the city states Bremen had with 2.9 per cent the highest increase.
Higher income in trade tax
The property tax A is levied for land and forestry land. Thus, the municipalities took in 2018 a total of about 400 million euros, an increase of 0.4 percent compared to 2017.
Land tax is an important source of income for the communities. The federal government wants to reform it. This is necessary because the Federal Constitutional Court has rejected the previous regulation because of obsolete values. The reform should be decided later this year.
On business taxes , the municipalities took 55.8 billion euros. This was an increase of 5.6 percent over the previous year. "The trade tax revenue in all federal states was above that of the previous year," the statisticians said.
Rhineland-Palatinate had the highest increase in area countries with 12.4 percent, followed by Saarland with 11.4 percent. With the city states Hamburg had with 14 per cent the highest increase opposite 2017.
