Property tax reform - New assessment rates for property tax in Hamburg presented
The Hamburg Finance Authority has proposed new tax rates for real estate property tax. Accordingly, the rate in the residential sector (Real Property Tax B) increases from 540% to 975%. For agriculture and forestry (Real Property Tax A), a rate of 100% is proposed instead of the previous 225%. A particularly high tax rate of 8,000% is proposed for unbuilt, but developable land (Real Property Tax C), to accelerate the creation of living space. For the commercial sector (Non-Residential), a rate of 0.87 has been set. The new values are fixed factors used to calculate the tax amount.
According to the examples provided by the authority, the owners of a 100 square meter single-family house in a good residential area with a plot size of 1,000 square meters will have to pay 731 Euro next year. If the house is in a normal residential area, the annual payment would be only 646 Euro. For a 100 square meter condominium in a normal residential area, 353 Euro would be payable.
The requested reform by the Federal Constitutional Court will overall and in the residential and non-residential sectors remain revenue-neutral, said Finance Senator Andreas Dressel (SPD). Hamburg currently collects around 510 million Euro in real property tax annually. This amount is expected to remain approximately the same. The new tax rates and the assessment base will be incorporated into the new Real Property Tax Law, which is scheduled to be passed by the Senate and then by the Assembly in September.
The proposal for property tax reform in Hamburg includes an increase in the residential property tax levy rate from 540% to 975%. Andreas Dressel, the Finance Senator, assured that this reform will remain revenue-neutral in both residential and non-residential sectors. The tax authority also proposed a significant reduction in the property tax rate for agriculture and forestry, from 225% to 100%. The authority has suggested a particularly high tax rate of 8,000% for unbuilt, but developable land to incentivize the creation of living space.
