Berlin-City Tax Chatter

There's chatter going on in Berlin (the city) itself about property taxes and 'who' will pay them.

If you own an apartment building (doesn't matter which state you live in within Germany)....you, the renter.....are typically the person paying via your monthly rent money.....the property tax. 

There's a new property tax system being developed by the German federal government, which will involve some urban areas going up in a massive way (maybe double the previous tax amount). 

So there's some political folks within the city of Berlin who have the idea that enough laws exist presently....to halt the property tax cost being passed onto the renters.  Yes, in their mind....only the owners would pay the property. 

Naturally, this is hyping up working-class people to lean toward these political folks and their agendas.  Legal to limit the property tax only to the owner?  There's some debate about this, and it's generally divided. 

Couldn't the landlord and owner of the building just raise the rent up, and slice off the increased rent to pay the tax?  In most circles, people think this is the likely outcome....but with this method, the landlord would be increasing the amount of money coming into his revenue pot, and pay more on income tax (profits from the rent).  Some suggest that it'd trigger even higher rental amounts....to cover the method of property tax, and increased income tax. 

Affecting other states or cities?  So far....no.  There is some speculation that Berlin politics is out there on the fringe of things, and some folks might be willing to experiment to the far extreme on certain ideas.  The end-result?  I hate to suggest it, but you might be seeing rent going up 25-percent in order to inflate things to a comparable nature, and just upset local folks even more.