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Tracks in Berlin Mitte (symbol image): Berlin's value has increased in recent years
Photo: Thomas Trutschel/photothek.de / imago images/photothek
In 2022, Berlin received a good 3.6 billion euros from the so-called financial power equalization of the federal states.
That is about the same amount as in the previous year and the highest in a federal comparison, as the Senate Department for Finance announced at the request of the dpa.
A total of around 18.5 billion euros were redistributed last year, as can be seen from the accounting results published by the Federal Ministry of Finance.
Five federal states are recipient states, while eleven federal states benefited from payments from the compensation.
Because the total pot has increased by around 1.4 billion compared to the previous year, Berlin's percentage has fallen for the second time in a row.
It was 19.5 percent last year - after 21 the year before.
Berlin is still a long way from becoming a donor country.
This applies when city-states are more than 150 percent of the average in their taxes based on revenue per capita.
Berlin came to 109.8 percent in 2022, Bremen to 82.5.
The only donor of the three city states is Hamburg, which achieved a value of 173.1 percent.
Because of the money from the equalization of financial power, Berlin is always in the headlines.
It was only at the beginning of the year that the CSU discussed financial consequences for the red-green-red Senate after the New Year's Eve riots in Berlin.
If the state of Berlin is not politically ready to enforce the law in the capital, there must be financial sanctions, demanded the head of the Bundestag CSU, Alexander Dobrindt, and named the state financial equalization as a possible lever.
The largest donor country is Bavaria
With almost 9.9 billion euros, Bavaria bore the greatest burden.
The Free State thus paid for more than half of the redistributed money.
Baden-Württemberg paid almost 4.5 billion euros, and Hesse paid 3.25 billion euros.
Hamburg contributed around 814 million euros and Rhineland-Palatinate around 107 million euros.
The fact that Rhineland-Palatinate became a donor state is mainly due to the Mainz-based vaccine producer Biontech and its tax payments.
With around 3.6 billion euros, Berlin is the largest beneficiary of the redistribution.
The five eastern German non-city states also get money from the pot.
Bavaria's Finance Minister Albert Füracker (CSU) had already announced in mid-January that the Free State was preparing a possible lawsuit before the Federal Constitutional Court.
"Bavaria supports in solidarity, but solidarity and personal responsibility must be balanced," emphasized Füracker.
The balance is constantly dwindling, it cannot go on like this.
In 2013, Bavaria – together with Hesse – had already filed a lawsuit against the state financial equalization system at the time.
The two states then withdrew their lawsuit in 2017 after the financial relations between the federal and state governments had been reorganized.
The system is now called financial power equalization.
It serves the goal enshrined in the Basic Law of creating equal living conditions in Germany.
ani/dpa
