Munich (dpa / lby) – The Munich City Treasury wants to introduce an overnight tax. This emerges from a draft resolution for the finance committee in the coming week. The Bavarian hotel and restaurant association Dehoga, on the other hand, criticized the plans on Tuesday as “counterproductive and harmful” and “nonsense”.
Specifically, according to a spokesman, the city treasury is aiming for a tax of 5 percent. It should be levied on the price of the direct accommodation – but not on additional services such as breakfast, half-board or wellness packages. Both tourist and business trips should be affected, but not underage guests. The Treasury expects revenue of around 40 to 60 million euros per year from the tax with expenditure of around two million.
According to the draft, the tax statute must be approved by the government of Upper Bavaria, as it is being introduced for the first time in Bavaria. The Ministry of the Interior must also agree. In principle, however, the city treasury is confident: after the Federal Constitutional Court recently ruled that an accommodation tax was constitutional, “there should be nothing standing in the way of approval,” the draft says.
The Dehoga is up in arms against the plans. “The Bavarian hospitality industry is not only struggling with the consequences of the corona pandemic, but also significantly with the consequences of the Ukraine war,” emphasized Angela Inselkammer, President of the Association. Drastic price increases and consumer restraint formed a “toxic mixture,” she said, and warned: “If an overnight stay tax were to come in addition, it would not just be a penalty tax on hospitality, but a first-class program to destroy small and medium-sized businesses.”
In addition, Dehoga is of the opinion that an overnight stay tax would contradict the Growth Acceleration Act. The association is now calling on the Free State to ban accommodation taxes by including them in the municipal tax law at the appropriate point.