Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Property Tax 'Wave' Coming

 The German court system came out a couple of years ago and basically told the government that the then property-tax system....was unfair.

If you had to go and pick something that the vast majority of Germans didn't want you to touch....property-tax was at the very top of the list. 

A lot of chatter has occurred since then over the topic.  I noticed in regional news (Hessen, my state)....that the regional government has opened up the mess and will discuss how it changes.

HR (out public TV folks) discussed this matter.

What the CDU-Green coalition government says.....they will start a process where all three-million properties in the state will be reviewed over the next two years.  The implementation point?  2025.

It's pointed out that in some weird way.....you could have a flat 'zero' rate, and pay absolutely no property tax at all.  The odds of this?  I'd put it at 1-percent chance.

It's also pointed out that your property tax could be going up by several hundred Euro.

You could be sitting there on property in a decent village twenty kilometers outside of Frankfurt.....having paid 300 Euro a year for thirty years, then finding out in 2025 that your new property-tax is near 750 Euro.  

All of this likely to draw a significant amount of pain and political discomfort?  I suspect that Germans will start to review local projects and ask pointed questions why the mayor overpaid on a landscaping project by 50,000 Euro, or asking why the city needed to buy a 15,000 Euro statue.  

For 2025?  It'll be a very unpleasant year as the new tax numbers arrive and get people all hyped up.  

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