What do the parties in Berlin say on finance and taxes?

The AfD wants Berlin to push in the Bundesrat for an end to the Grundsteuer (property tax). The federal government would compensate municipalities for the lost revenue. The platform justifies this as relief for owners and for tenants, who pay the tax through their utility charges.

The AfD wants to get rid of the property tax. Owners pay this tax for their land. Tenants pay it too, through their extra housing costs. The federal government should give cities the missing money.

The AfD wants to lower the Gewerbesteuer (local trade tax) and scrap carbon pricing for commercial real estate. The "City Tax" on overnight stays would be abolished and the air travel tax reduced. The platform cites more investment and the lasting effects of COVID policy on tourism, retail and restaurants.

The AfD wants lower taxes for businesses. The tax on hotel stays should end. Flying should be taxed less. Businesses should no longer pay a carbon price for their buildings.

The AfD wants to gradually reduce Berlin's investment backlog, which it puts at 35 billion euros. The money would go to schools, transportation, administration and infrastructure. There would be no new climate or gender projects.

Berlin lacks a lot of money for schools, roads and public offices. The AfD says the gap is 35 billion euros. It wants to close this gap step by step. New climate projects and gender projects should get no more money.

The AfD calls for a comprehensive audit that shows all of Berlin's financial obligations in a single overall balance sheet. This includes off-budget funds, the debts of state-owned companies and future pensions. Core tasks should not be shifted to state-owned companies to get around budget rules.

The AfD wants to show all of Berlin's debts openly. This includes debts of companies the state owns. Future pensions for civil servants should count too. The state should not hide debt in its companies.

The AfD wants to strictly apply the debt brake again and anchor it in Berlin's constitution. Within four years the budget is to run without a deficit, and debt is to be paid down afterward. In the party's view, a firm debt rule protects taxpayers and limits interest rate risks.

The debt brake limits new government debt. The AfD wants to write it into Berlin's constitution. In four years Berlin should take on no new debt. After that Berlin should pay back old debt. Taxes should only fall once the budget is sound.

The AfD wants to systematically review all state spending and limit it to the core tasks of government. Organizations that it believes run political campaigns should no longer receive tax money. The platform sees Berlin's problem mainly in spending and priorities, not in revenue.

The AfD wants to check all of Berlin's spending. Programs with no clear benefit should end. Berlin should only pay for the most important tasks. The AfD says some groups do politics. These groups should get no more tax money.

The AfD wants to direct state investment primarily toward preserving existing infrastructure and keeping it working. It rejects large loan-financed programs because, in its view, they burden the budget permanently. Fixed rules are to apply to special funds, federal money and major projects.

Berlin has many buildings and facilities to repair. The AfD wants to spend money on that first. Police, fire services and digital government also matter to it. The AfD rejects big programs paid for with loans. The state should check big projects carefully before they start.

The CDU wants to pursue tax fraud and financial crime more aggressively by giving tax auditors and investigators more staff and technology. Through a Bundesrat initiative, it also wants businesses to be required to accept at least one digital means of payment.

The CDU wants to fight tax fraud harder. Tax investigators should get more staff and technology. They should be able to use police data. Shops should have to accept digital payment. For example, by card.

The CDU wants to introduce a Grundsteuer C, a land tax that charges vacant, build-ready plots at a particularly high rate. This is meant to encourage quick construction on such land. Schemes to avoid the real estate transfer tax are also to be stopped.

Some plots of land are ready for building but stay empty. The CDU wants a higher tax on them. It is called land tax C. Owners should then build faster. Tricks to avoid the property purchase tax should be stopped.

The CDU wants to continue budget consolidation and comply with the debt brake, citing fairness between generations. All areas are to be checked for savings, social spending steered more precisely, and the offerings of what it calls the 'free-of-charge city' reviewed.

The CDU does not want new debt. There is a rule for this called the debt brake. The party says this is fair to future generations. All spending should be checked. Free services and social spending will also be reviewed.

The CDU rules out raising any taxes that Berlin controls directly and wants to keep local business tax multipliers stable. Instead of higher taxes, it relies on sound budgeting, an efficient administration, and strict spending control.

The CDU does not want to raise taxes in Berlin. This applies to all taxes the city sets itself. The local business tax should also stay the same. Companies pay this tax. Instead, the city should be careful with money.

The CDU wants to make Berlin's tax offices more effective and continue the organizational reform it has already started. In its view, well-functioning tax offices are essential for funding the city and for tax fairness.

The CDU wants to improve Berlin's tax offices. These offices collect taxes. They should become more modern and faster. More work should happen digitally. This should help the staff.

The CDU wants Berlin's state-owned land and buildings to be managed more on commercial principles and under central control. As a rule, the properties are to stay in public hands, but sales should be possible in justified individual cases.

Berlin owns a lot of land and buildings. The CDU wants to manage them in a more business-like way. Unused buildings should be rented out. Sometimes Berlin should be allowed to sell land. The money should then go to other buildings.

The Greens want to introduce a hardship rule for the property tax (Grundsteuer). It is meant to shield small businesses, clubs, and social and cultural venues, among others, from steep tax increases. The goal is to preserve the mixed character of Berlin's neighborhoods.

Property tax is a tax on land and buildings. For some, it has gone up a lot. The Greens want a special rule for hard cases. It should protect small shops, clubs and cultural places. This should keep neighborhoods mixed and lively.

The Greens want to raise the real estate transfer tax to Brandenburg's level and scale it by social criteria. People buying a home to live in would pay less, large companies more. At the federal level, tax loopholes for share deals and in inheritance tax would be closed.

People who buy a house or land pay a tax. The Greens want to raise this tax. People who want to live in the home should pay less. Big companies should pay more. Tax tricks when buying whole companies should end too.

The Greens want to act against owners who do not use building land for housing. To do so, they plan to introduce Grundsteuer C, a higher tax on undeveloped land that is ready for construction, along with strict building obligations.

Some owners leave building land empty. The Greens want to change that. Empty building land should get its own tax. It is called Grundsteuer C. There should also be a duty to build.

The Greens want to put considerably more public money into climate neutrality and infrastructure repair, using all permitted borrowing room. At the federal level they want the debt brake in its present form to be dropped, because in the party's view it blocks investment in the future.

The Greens want to invest more money in Berlin. The money should go to climate protection and to repairing buildings and facilities. Berlin should borrow as much as the rules allow. The debt brake limits new government debt. The Greens want to end it in its current form.

The Greens want to modernize grant law, meaning the rules under which the state funds civil society projects. Multi-year commitments and simpler accounting are meant to give providers and their staff more security.

Berlin gives money to social groups and projects. The Greens want to make the rules for this simpler. Projects should be able to get money for several years. Applications should be handled digitally. Then staff know earlier what comes next.

The Greens want to steer the state budget more by what spending achieves, especially for climate protection and gender equality. Budget data is also to be presented in a way the public can understand.

The Greens want to check what the state's money achieves. They look especially at climate and equality. Everyone should easily see what Berlin spends money on. Citizens should have a say on budgets in the districts.

The Greens want to push at the federal level for a wealth tax on the very rich and to remove inheritance tax exemptions for especially large fortunes. The revenue goes to the states and is meant to let Berlin reliably support people in need.

Very rich people should again pay a tax on their wealth. Very large inheritances should no longer get exceptions. The Greens want to push for this at the federal level. The states get the money. Berlin should use it to help people in need.

The Greens want to improve the state's revenue with a tax on single-use packaging, adjusted parking fees, and a real estate transfer tax at Brandenburg's level. The transfer tax is also to be graduated on social grounds.

Berlin should take in more money. The Greens want a tax on single-use packaging. This should also cut trash in parks. Parking should cost differently than today. Large companies should pay more tax when they buy property.

The Greens see the fight against tax evasion as also a fight against organized crime. They want a state real estate register, better-equipped tax offices, more audits of companies and people with million-euro incomes, and a federal reform against share deals.

Some people and companies do not pay their taxes. The Greens want to pursue this more strongly. Tax offices should get more staff. A register should show who really owns buildings. Companies should no longer be able to avoid the tax on buying property.

The Greens want to offset disadvantages faced by people of East German background in wealth, rents, and wages. To that end, they call at the federal level for a reform of inheritance and wealth taxes, changes to tenancy law, and considerably higher minimum wages.

In the East, people inherit less and often earn less. The Greens want to balance this out. Taxes on inheritance and wealth should change. The minimum wage should rise considerably. Rents should stay stable and affordable.

The Greens want to apply the connexity principle to district funding: whoever assigns a task to the districts should also cover its cost. In addition, pools of floating staff are to be expanded so that district offices can process residents' requests promptly.

The districts often get new tasks from the state. The Greens want this rule: whoever hands out a task also pays for it. This is called connexity. There should also be more floater teams. These teams help out in offices when there is a lot of work.

The Left wants to raise the state of Berlin's revenue and redistribute more from top to bottom. It plans a tax on luxury villas, closer tax audits of millionaires, and an end to tax advantages for the top five percent of earners.

The Left wants Berlin to take in more money. There would be a new tax on very expensive villas. The tax office would check millionaires more closely. Tax breaks for the richest would end.

The Left wants to balance Berlin's state budget in the medium term without lowering total spending. To do so, it plans to tap more revenue, slow spending growth and make full use of borrowing options. Social infrastructure and investment take priority; the party rejects prestige projects such as an Olympic bid.

Berlin spends more money than it takes in. The Left wants to change that within a few years. It does not want to cut social services to do so. Berlin should take in more money and use more loans. The Left does not want costly big projects like the Olympics.

The Left wants to abolish the debt brake (Schuldenbremse) entirely because, in the party's view, it blocks investment. As long as it applies, state-owned companies are to invest more and receive loans from the state for that purpose.

The debt brake limits how much debt the government may take on. The Left wants to get rid of it completely. Berlin should invest more in bridges, daycare centers, schools and hospitals. Companies owned by the state should get loans for this.

The Left wants to coordinate investment from the state budget, the federal special fund and Berlin's state-owned companies, and to set up a state agency for that purpose. The money is to go mainly to climate protection, mobility and social infrastructure. State-owned companies are to be strengthened and protected from being sold.

Berlin should spend more on climate protection, transport and social services. A new state agency should plan this spending. The districts should get more of the federal money. The city's own companies should not be sold. Their prices should stay affordable for people.

The Left wants to raise Berlin's real estate transfer tax from 6.0 to 8.0 percent, or at least to 6.5 percent as in Brandenburg. At the federal level it wants states to be allowed to set graduated rates and wants avoidance through share deals to end.

People who buy land in Berlin pay a tax. The Left wants to raise this tax. It should go from 6 to 8 percent. Social housing and ordinary homes that owners live in could be exempt. For that, a federal law has to change.

The Left wants to examine raising the local business tax to Potsdam's multiplier of 470 and to make buyers and owners of luxury properties worth 4 million euros or more contribute more. It is also considering a Grundsteuer C (a property tax on undeveloped building land) and higher second-home tax and parking fees.

The Left wants more revenue for Berlin. It will look at a higher tax for businesses. Small businesses should not be hit too hard. People with a villa worth 4 million euros or more should pay more. Parking and second homes could also cost more.

The Left wants to give tax offices more staff and better technology so they can stop tax flight and tax avoidance by large companies and wealthy individuals. Each year, 100 additional tax auditors are to start training.

Tax offices should get more staff and better technology. Each year, 100 more people should start training as tax auditors. Tax auditors check whether companies and rich people pay their taxes. The training should become more attractive, for example with cheap apartments.

The Left wants to push at the federal level for the return of the wealth tax and for a reform of the shared taxes. If the federal government does not act, it wants to examine and advance having the states introduce the tax themselves.

The Left wants a tax on large fortunes again. Berlin should make proposals for this at the federal level. The federal government might say no. Then the Left will check whether the states can introduce the tax themselves.

The Left calls for a far-reaching reform of the Schuldenbremse (debt brake) so that states and municipalities can invest more. Berlin's share of the federal special fund is to go specifically toward the social and ecological transformation of companies and serve civilian purposes only.

The debt brake limits how much the state may borrow. The Left wants to change this rule a lot. States and cities should be able to invest more money. Berlin gets 5 billion euros from the federal government. This money should only go to civilian uses, not to weapons.

The Left wants to examine whether commercial properties that sit empty long-term can be taxed. The platform points to a vacancy rate of at least 8 percent for commercial space in Berlin. Because this requires a basis in federal law, the party wants to push for one through the Bundesrat.

Many commercial spaces in Berlin are empty. The Left wants to look into a tax on such empty spaces. This needs a federal law. The Left wants to push for it in the Bundesrat.

The Left wants to fundamentally change the system by which Berlin's boroughs receive money. Funding would be based on need, because the platform argues the current budgeting method creates the wrong incentives and pits the boroughs against each other.

The Left wants to fund the boroughs in a new way. The money should match what they need. The party says the boroughs have too little money today. And they have to fight each other for it.

The SPD wants to implement and speed up investment in Berlin's infrastructure during the next term. The money is to come from the state budget, Berlin's SIWA special fund and the federal infrastructure special fund. In the party's view, visible investment strengthens trust in the state and in democracy.

The SPD wants to invest a lot of money in Berlin. The money is for schools, roads, bridges and hospitals. New homes are also planned. This is to be a focus for ten years. The work should go faster than before.

The SPD wants to increase Berlin's revenue. The Grunderwerbsteuer (property transfer tax) is to go up by half a percentage point, with exceptions for buyers who live in the property. It also plans a packaging tax, higher fines and parking fees, and stronger tax investigation.

Berlin should take in more money. People who buy land or a house should pay a bit more tax. Buyers who live there themselves should be exempt. There should also be a tax on packaging.

The SPD wants to push at the federal level for a fairer distribution of wealth. Large fortunes are to be taxed more heavily on inheritances and gifts, and a wealth tax is to be levied again. It also wants share deals banned.

Very rich people should pay more taxes. The SPD wants to achieve this at the federal level. There should again be a tax on large wealth. People who inherit a lot should also pay more.

The SPD calls on the federal government to abolish the Schuldenbremse (debt brake) and wants to use its leeway fully until then. Investment is to stay high while the structural deficit shrinks markedly. It wants to cut spending only cautiously.

The debt brake limits how much debt the government may take on. The SPD wants the federal government to abolish it. Berlin should keep putting a lot of money into the city's future. Cuts should only be made carefully.

The SPD demands that the federal government pay in full for tasks it assigns to the states. In addition, the capital city financing agreement is to be revised so that Berlin's special burdens as the capital are fully offset.

The federal government often gives the states new tasks. The SPD wants the federal government to pay for these tasks too. Berlin has special costs as the capital. The federal government should give more money for that as well.