A globally successful vaccine manufacturer also makes municipal coffers in Rhineland-Palatinate ring loudly.
But not everyone is cheering.
The country promises improvements.
Bad Ems/Mainz - The tax revenues of the Rhineland-Palatinate municipalities have again reached a record level.
Your so-called cash tax revenues totaled around 6.8 billion euros in 2022.
As the State Statistical Office in Bad Ems announced on Friday based on preliminary figures, that was a good 14 percent more than in 2021, when 5.9 billion euros were also a record result in state history at the time.
Above all, the trade tax revenue bubbled up even more in 2022.
They amounted to around 3.6 billion euros in 2022 - a good quarter more than in the previous year.
In 2022 they accounted for more than 53 percent of the total tax revenue of the municipalities.
"Again, it is the state capital of Mainz that stands out: With around 1.3 billion euros, it was able to almost double its trade tax revenue compared to the already high figure of the previous year," said the State Statistical Office.
The globally successful vaccine manufacturer Biontech is based in Mainz.
It also has a location in Idar-Oberstein.
However, tax revenues did not flow so much everywhere.
Referring to the figures from the statisticians for 2022, the Rhineland-Palatinate district council emphasized: “The bottom line is that the 24 districts have to cope with a negative financing balance of more than 26 million euros for the first time since 2014.” The main reason for this is the expenditure in dealing with the influx of refugees and people displaced by war, the expansion of day-care centers as a result of a change in the law in 2021 and the improvement of local public transport.
According to the State Statistical Office, there was a positive financing balance of 945 million euros across all Rhineland-Palatinate municipalities in 2022.
That was only a good 20 million euros less than in 2021, when the highest value in the history of the state was achieved at 966 million euros.
A financing balance takes into account both deposits and withdrawals and thus shows whether there is still money in the till at the end of the year.
The Rhineland-Palatinate Finance Minister Doris Ahnen (SPD) judged: “We are happy with the municipalities and municipal associations of the state about the strong result.” The state has given the municipalities strong support and will “especially in the coming years in municipal financial equalization and through the local government debt relief program will provide additional funds”.
State Interior Minister Michael Ebling (SPD) explained: “Even if a significant proportion of this surplus arose in a few cities, almost all municipalities in the state benefit from it.
This is due to the solidary system of horizontal redistribution in municipal financial equalization.”
However, although there were fewer municipalities and municipal associations with a financing deficit in 2022 than in 2021, there were still quite a few.
"This problem could soon be a thing of the past or at least be significantly reduced," explained the Minister of the Interior.
"In 2023, we increased the funds from municipal financial equalization again by 10.2 percent compared to 2022, and in the course of the most recent reform, which took effect at the beginning of 2023, we once again increased its horizontal redistribution power."
The chairman of the district assembly, the Westerwald District Administrator Achim Schwickert (CDU), called on the state to “ensure that the districts are able to cope with their numerous tasks financially”.
Schwickert called on the state to "quickly approve the municipal budgets for 2023, even in the event of a planned budget deficit".
Their high expenses are "due to social developments and higher standards wanted by the country".
dpa
