2023-09-06 04:09:07
Cologne south town
North Rhine-Westphalia uses the federal model to calculate the new property tax, against which the associations have constitutional concerns.
(Photo: dpa)
Frankfurt The tax offices collapse under the flood of objections that are filed against the new property tax. The Handelsblatt reported on this back in May. The consequence of this overload: Numerous decisions are pending as to whether objections will be rejected or granted.
This also has an effect on the Haus & Grund associations and the taxpayers’ association, who want to bring a model lawsuit against the disputed calculation model before the Federal Constitutional Court. Now the associations are increasing the pressure and want to sue the tax authorities for inaction. Haus & Grund confirmed a corresponding report in the “Bild” newspaper on Tuesday.
A large proportion of the more than three million objections that have now been filed are based on doubts about the calculation method. But as long as the tax offices do not reject the objections, those affected cannot sue against the property tax calculation.
“It is absurd that the citizens are left in the dark and are denied judicial clarification,” explains Haus-&-Grund President Kai Warnecke.
The recalculation of the property tax, which will be levied from 2025, became necessary because the Federal Constitutional Court overturned the old procedure in 2018. As a result, the Federal Ministry of Finance developed the so-called federal model. Some countries designed different country models. While model lawsuits are already pending against the Bavarian and Baden-Württemberg models, there are only a few individual lawsuits against the federal model. The associations are also striving for model lawsuits here.
The constitutionality of the new property tax is to be examined
They rely on a legal opinion by the constitutional lawyer Professor Dr. Gregory Kirchhof. This reveals several reasons why the federal model is unconstitutional. Ultimately, however, only the Federal Constitutional Court can decide on the legality.
However, this legal action is only open if an owner subject to property tax has lodged an objection to his property tax assessment and this has been rejected by the tax office. In order to force this decision, there is the remedy of the failure to act. The tax office is obliged to decide on the objection.
>> Read here: Legal opinion considers new property tax model to be unconstitutional
In initially four model cases, both associations will jointly support an action for failure to act against the respective tax offices and then initiate the constitutional review up to Karlsruhe. These include cases from the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony, Berlin and Bremen, in which the associations believe that there are reasonable doubts about the constitutionality of the underlying federal model due to extremely high rental and land values.
The federal model is used in a total of eleven federal states. “An action for failure to act is currently the only way to obtain judicial clarification on the model lawsuits as quickly as possible – legal certainty must be created. The fact that we have to go this way is legally and politically bitter,” emphasizes BdSt President Reiner Holznagel.
More: Check the property tax assessment – when the objection is worthwhile
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