As of: February 24, 2024, 8:58 a.m
By: Bona Hyun
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Press
Split
Municipalities urgently need money - and are increasing property taxes in the midst of the economic crisis.
The following federal states are among the front runners.
Berlin – In many municipalities, the assessment rates for property tax B have been increased since 2018.
In addition to the property value, the assessment rate is one of the factors used to calculate property tax.
Cities and municipalities determine it independently.
You thus determine the amount of the tax.
Property tax is one of the most important sources of income for municipalities.
A
Bild
survey in the federal states now shows: In 2023, every fourth municipality increased the so-called property tax B (for inhabited buildings).
A property tax bill for 2024 is held up in front of a private property.
© Bernd Weißbrod/dpa
Shock for taxpayers: In North Rhine-Westphalia, more than one in four municipalities increased property taxes
In North Rhine-Westphalia, more than every fourth municipality is said to have increased property tax B.
Of 400 municipalities, 113 increased property tax B last year. In other federal states, cities and municipalities also massively increased the assessment rates.
In Lower Saxony, one in five of the 945 municipalities received this, the survey showed.
Property tax B has been steadily becoming more expensive for several years.
In 2022, the property tax was increased more than it has been since 2016.
There was a further increase in 2023.
The average weighted assessment rate of property tax B rose by 5 percentage points from 549 percent (2022) to 554 percent.
This was shown by an analysis by the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) from the end of 2023. The DIKH collects the assessment rates for trade tax and property tax B annually in all communities with 20,000 inhabitants or more.
More and more municipalities are increasing property tax rates
A total of 103 municipalities increased the assessment rates for property tax B in 2023. To explain: In contrast to the
picture,
the survey looked at 20,000 or more residents.
“We know from reports that smaller municipalities in particular have increased their property tax B rate,” said the DIHK press office when asked by
Ippen.Media
.
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According to the IHK assessment rate survey, the range of increases in the different municipalities is very large overall.
Accordingly, 26 municipalities increased their assessment rate by between 20 and 49 points.
A total of 38 municipalities increased their property tax assessment rates by 50 and 100 percentage points - and 17 municipalities even increased their property tax rate by more than 100 percentage points.
The absolute top value for the assessment rate increases is Bad Homburg vor der Höhe in Hesse - the property tax assessment rate there was increased by a whopping 345 percentage points last year.
This increases it to a total of 690 percent in the Hessian district town.
Behind it is Xanten in North Rhine-Westphalia with an increase of 200 points to a total of 850 percent, as well as the Hessian city of Oberursel with an increase of 197 to a total of 947 percentage points.
Residents suffer from increased property taxes – what is the reason?
What could be the reason for the massive increase in property taxes?
According to Bild,
cities and municipalities could
prepare for the property tax reform, which will apply from 2025.
A new property tax calculation should then apply.
The Federal Constitutional Court had demanded this because the tax offices had recently calculated the value of a property on the basis of completely outdated data.
Because other measured values will change from 2025, “because of the promised revenue neutrality, this should lead to a reduction in the assessment rates in most municipalities,” said Ralf Seibicke (63), President of the Saxony-Anhalt Taxpayers Association, to Bild
.
For Seibicke, “the year 2018 can be considered as a benchmark, or at most an average of the assessment rates from 2018 to 2023.”
Property tax A, B and C
The different assessment rates are called property tax A and property tax B.
The assessment rates are set by the respective municipality.
“A” stands for “agricultural” and applies to agricultural and forestry properties.
According to property tax digital,
“B” stands
for “structural” and is used for developed and undeveloped commercial and private properties.
The property tax C enables municipalities to introduce their own assessment rate for properties ready for construction from 2025.
What is property tax?
Property tax is levied on property.
This includes land, including buildings and agricultural and forestry operations.
It is generally paid by the owners.
In the case of rental, the property tax can be passed on to tenants via the operating costs.
The revenue generated by the property tax flows exclusively to the cities and municipalities.
According to the Federal Ministry of Finance, it is currently almost 15 billion euros annually.
Municipalities need property taxes to finance municipal facilities such as schools, swimming pools, kindergartens and the like.
The money also goes into infrastructure and enables the construction of cycle paths and roads.