Now the state needs an extension of the deadline

Berlin It was just too much. Property tax information for 7000 properties and buildings, more than 13,000 sub-areas, plus the question of whether forest areas need to be re-measured. “We can’t afford that at the moment,” says Jena’s city spokesman Kristian Philler.

Jena therefore asked the Thuringian state finance ministry for a postponement of the property tax return and got it: instead of October 31, the city now has until December 31 to submit its property tax returns.

Jena is not an isolated case. Not only citizens, but also the approximately 11,000 municipalities in Germany each have to submit thousands of property tax returns. The first cities have now capitulated and received an extension of the deadline – which the state has so far denied normal taxpayers.

The extension of the deadline shows the whole insanity of the property tax reform: The state itself is not able to submit its property tax returns by the deadline it set itself, but expects exactly that from its citizens.