Homeowners in Pforzheim will pay less property tax from 2025, and the assessment rate has been significantly reduced. Compared to other cities in Baden-Württemberg, Pforzheim is taking a different approach.
After a lively discussion in the Pforzheim local council on Tuesday evening, the vote was clear: with 21 yes and 13 no votes, the committee voted in favor of a proposal from the CDU. This provides for the property tax assessment rate to be reduced by 348 percentage points. This means that almost all homeowners will have to pay less property tax in the future.
The Pforzheim town hall wanted to keep property taxes constant
The background is the reform of the property tax in Baden-Württemberg. The Federal Constitutional Court declared the previous regulation unconstitutional. In the future, the size and value of the property should be decisive for the calculation. If the assessment rate remained the same, this would have meant considerable additional income for most municipalities. However, most of them adhere to the country's guidelines so that tax revenue should remain the same. According to the town hall's wishes, things should also work in Pforzheim – with a reduction in the assessment rate to 464 percent.
CDU: Reform is “unjust and illegal”
However, this would have led to redistribution – and to many hardship cases. Owners of one- and two-family homes had to dig deeper into their pockets and in individual cases had to pay many times the old taxes. The CDU wanted to prevent this with its request for an even more significant reduction. This motion then received a majority, including the votes of the AfD and FDP.
The tax cut is fiscal madness.
questions and answers
The new property tax in BW – What you need to consider now
From 2025, property tax will be recalculated – also in Baden-Württemberg. More and more property owners in the country are receiving their notices. Questions and answers about the new tax.
Critic: Tax gift harms the city of Pforzheim
Although the new assessment rate in Pforzheim prevents hardship cases, it also means 7.5 million less income. The SPD and the Greens, among others, criticized money that was missing in many places. Both parties spoke of campaign gifts. In the end, Green Party spokesman Axel Baumbusch said that savings had to be made again in voluntary services – including in culture, sport and the social sector. Annkathrin Wulff (SPD) said it was a tax gift that the city couldn't afford. Those in favor of the reduction, however, point, among other things, to the higher allocations as a result of the new census.
Property tax reform is miles away from tax justice.
The Pforzheim local council has decided to significantly reduce property taxes.
SWR
Peter Lauber
Property tax: hope for reform of reform
Almost all political groups agreed that the reform was unfair and possibly unconstitutional. They see the country as having a duty to eliminate the horrendous injustices of the reform. The CDU relies on the principle of hope. The new law would not stand up in court anyway, said parliamentary group member Martin Erhard. Which is why we will certainly soon return to the old tax rates.
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