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Houses in Stuttgart: Here the property tax rate increased by 100 percentage points in 2020
Photo: Marijan Murat / DPA
In the Corona crisis year 2020, according to a study, every tenth municipality nationwide raised the property tax.
Before that, the percentage had been falling for years.
This is the result of a study by the consulting firm EY.
Nationwide, the average charge was 172 euros, three euros more than in the previous year.
The city-state of Bremen was at the top with 302 euros, followed by Hamburg with 260. In North Rhine-Westphalia the average real estate tax burden was the highest for an area at 212 euros per citizen, in Lower Saxony it was 179 euros.
In Bavaria, people got away cheaper - an average of 139 euros was due here.
In Brandenburg it was only 108 euros.
Land and trade tax can be determined by cities and municipalities themselves using the so-called assessment rates.
Companies have to pay business tax - how high it is is also an important location factor.
Property tax is levied on built-up and developable land and paid by owners - or passed on to tenants.
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EY partner Mattias Schneider expects a significant increase in the coming years.
"The municipalities don't have too many opportunities to improve their income situation," he said.
»Property and trade tax are the municipalities' most important sources of income.
And if you don't want to risk important business tax payers moving to cheaper municipalities, you will first of all raise the property tax. "
The so-called property tax B, which is to be paid by house and apartment owners and also by tenants, flushed 14.7 billion euros into the coffers of cities and municipalities last year.
dab / Reuters / dpa
