Wiesbaden/Mühlheim (dpa/lhe) - The Hessian Association of Towns and Municipalities warns of the financial burdens on the municipalities. The high price increases would hit the cities and communities hard, explained managing director David Rauber on Thursday in Mühlheim. As a result, many municipalities are skeptical about their financial prospects and are having increasing problems balancing their budgets.
"The federal and state governments are also giving the municipalities more and more costly tasks," said Rauber. "So the situation and prospects in many town halls are already anything but rosy." The large cities in particular benefited from the overall increase in trade tax revenue in Hesse in 2022. The vast majority of small and medium-sized municipalities would be much more dependent on income tax. Income tax has stagnated in the past year.
Finance Minister Michael Boddenberg (CDU) was pleased about the increased trade tax payments. The economy in Hesse has mastered the Corona crisis and has also coped well with the current turbulent times. Despite delivery bottlenecks and reluctance to buy, the municipalities managed to generate almost 7.2 billion euros in trade tax revenue for 2022. The wide range of aid from the state and federal government has helped to preserve jobs and have accompanied many companies through the crisis.
The municipalities in Hesse received 14.7 percent more trade tax last year than in the same period last year. According to the State Statistical Office, they booked around 7.2 billion euros in trade tax in 2022 and thus 916 million euros more than in 2021.
The independent cities of Frankfurt, Wiesbaden and Darmstadt made a significant contribution to the additional revenue: According to the statisticians, they achieved total payments of 3.2 billion euros.
Hesse's largest city, Frankfurt, recorded 2.6 billion euros in trade tax (plus 464 million), Wiesbaden 383 million (plus 115 million) and Darmstadt 237 million euros (plus 44 million). Neu-Isenburg with 117 million (minus 56 million) and Eschborn with 195 million euros (minus 55 million) reported significantly lower results in a year-on-year comparison, the state office announced.
