State Finances - Landtag passes supplementary budget 2024
The Hessian Landtag passed the supplementary budget for this year with the votes of the black-red government factions. In the budget for 2024, expenditures of approximately 39 billion Euro are planned. Due to tax shortfalls and the strengthening of the Landesbank, a new borrowing of over 2.8 billion Euro is planned. "We are facing even greater challenges in the 2025 budget," said Finance Minister Alexander Lorz (CDU). It cannot be assumed that the economic and financial framework conditions will significantly improve by then.
Lorz had already referred to this in the submission of the budget to the Landtag that the May tax audit revealed tax shortfalls of nearly 2.4 billion Euro in Hesse until 2027. These figures were the basis for the supplementary budget. The borrowing is in accordance with the rules of the debt brake in his words. In the 2023 state budget, there was still a black zero under the line.
In addition to over 800 million Euro to offset the tax shortfalls of the current year, two billion Euro are provided in the budget for the Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen (Helaba). In response to criticism from European banking supervisors, Hessen plans to replace the questionable silent deposits at the bank with the same amount of fresh money.
The Finance Minister of Hesse, Alexander Lorz, discussed the anticipated challenges in the 2025 budget during his remarks. The supplementary budget, which was passed in the Hessian State parliament with the support of the black-red government factions, was a result of the tax shortfalls revealed in the May audit. Alexander Lorz, representing the CDU, emphasized that the borrowing for the supplementary budget adheres to the debt brake rules.
