I've brought this up a couple of times in essays....but it simply got reinforced today with an item from Channel One (ARD), my public-run news folks.
The German Federal Ministry of Finance admitted today that near 9.6 billion Euro went from four states.....to the 12 other "lesser" states.
The big chunk? Bavaria paid out almost 5.5 billion Euro. Baden-Wurttemberg around 2.3 billion, Hessen around 1.7 billion and Hamburg around 112 million.
ARD admits at some point that the biggest receiver of the excess taxation money....is Berlin itself (just over 3.5 billion).
There's a case being tossed around and will end up with some national court review of this whole national tax redistribution game. Both Hessen and Bavaria are pressing on this episode. They want a "fairer" deal....with more of their wealth generated....staying in their own states.
This is one of those conversations that Germans will sit around and discuss over the business side of the nation and why job growth is centered in just a few locations. When you bring up wealth redistribution....it goes beyond the personal level, and surprises people as being a state-level system as well.
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