Schwerin (dpa/mv) – Municipalities’ income from trade and property taxes rose sharply last year despite the corona pandemic. The state statistical office calculated an increase of 17.2 percent compared to 2020. The cities and municipalities received 804.9 million euros from the so-called real taxes, the amount of which they can set themselves. As the office further announced on Thursday in Schwerin, the income in 2021 was also well above the pre-corona level: According to the statisticians, 723.5 million euros were pocketed from the three types of tax in 2019.
Real taxes include trade tax and property tax A for agricultural and forestry properties and property tax B for all other properties. Trade tax revenue increased by 23.8 percent from 2020 to 2021. According to the office, 57 of the 726 municipalities in the northeast increased their trade tax rate last year in order to increase their income. The Hanseatic city of Rostock has the highest rate nationwide with 465 percent, while the municipality of Rögnitz (Northwest Mecklenburg) has the lowest with 240 percent. The average collection rate rose 4 points to 388 percent.
The income from property tax A increased by 1.1 percent to 18 million euros. 68 municipalities increased their tax rate. The income from property tax B rose by 1.6 percent to 188.3 million euros, with 53 cities and municipalities increasing their assessment rate. The average score rose 2 points to 434 percent. Wackerow (Vorpommern-Greifswald district) had the highest assessment rate at 700 percent. The country’s lowest rate of 300 percent is applied in 28 municipalities, it said. The trend is downward.
