Tillmann Prüfer is a member of the editor-in-chief of “Zeit-Magazin”.
I have applied to my city’s citizens’ registration office for the extension of my resident’s parking permit. You need such a ticket so that you can park in front of the front door, otherwise you will get a ticket. I applied for a new one four weeks before my parking permit expired. It’s online today. After that – nothing happened.
At some point my ID was invalid and I received a penalty notice. At least that’s what the authorities got. I put a note behind the windshield saying I’ve already applied for an extension. In fact, I haven’t been bothered since then.
There are many such notes behind windshields in Berlin. By people explaining the exact circumstances of why a vehicle is there even though it lacks the required branding. My impression is that this type of protective spell works quite well. Apparently, such notes are very credible.
I also filed an income tax return, around spring. Since then I’ve been waiting for the tax office to send me a tax assessment. I thought that the authorities simply no longer existed, that all employees had fled, but then I received a reassuring reminder that I had forgotten to transfer the church tax. So something still works out there.
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I have read that there is concern that the German authorities may not be prepared for the challenges ahead. Citizens should be relieved in various ways in the near future. There is a housing benefit reform, and citizen benefits are also to be paid. And then the gas price brake takes effect. In the “Welt am Sonntag” I read that there was a risk of an “administrative backlog” in Germany.
Citizens in Munich already have to wait ten to twelve months for applications to be processed at all. The authorities want to hire more staff, but there are also problems finding enough people who want to process these applications. Administrative clerk is a fairly secure job, but apparently not the most popular. In addition, sick leave in the authorities is quite high. So there is a lot left.
We obviously have a situation in which politicians decide all sorts of things, but for a long time none of it reaches the citizen because nobody in the office can take care of it. That makes governing all the easier.
According to the newspaper report, the major administrative backlog will not come until 2023. This means that so far we have been living in administrative normality. So while I can still hope for the 2021 tax assessment, the 2022 assessment will probably only reach me on my deathbed. At least you have something to look forward to.
The parking permit with sticker just arrived, I was really touched. Unfortunately, the car is now broken.
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