Cities in Thuringia decide on packaging tax: a dispute sparked!

Thüringer Städte debattieren über Verpackungssteuern. Innenstaatssekretär Bausewein befürwortet kommunale Lösungen zur Abfallreduktion.
Thuringian cities debate packaging taxes. State Secretary Bausewein supports municipal solutions for waste reduction. (Symbolbild/NAG)

Cities in Thuringia decide on packaging tax: a dispute sparked!

Weimar, Deutschland - In Thuringia, the decision on the introduction of a packaging tax for disposable products such as coffee mugs and paper plates is up to the municipalities. This was emphasized in the secretary of the state Andreas Bausewein and pointed out that there was no reason for a nationwide ban. In the past few weeks, the debate about possible municipal packaging taxes in cities such as Erfurt, Jena, Gera and Weimar has won. The AfD faction tries to prevent this Initiative with a legislative regulation, which is decidedly rejected by Bausewein. The former mayor of Erfurt is firmly convinced that the municipalities have the right to their own consumption and expense taxes in order to act against the increasing pollution of public space, which also from the Hessian Süddeutsche Zeitung

A look at the legal foundations shows that municipal taxes are only permitted to a limited extent. According to the Local Tax Act (KAG), such taxes must differ from federal or state law taxes. Various dishes have already assessed the admissibility of packaging taxes differently. An example is Tübingen, where such a statute was confirmed by the Federal Constitutional Court in December 2024. This statute charges a tax on disposable packaging, which are used for consumption in the direct sale of food and drinks. The tax rate is EUR 0.50 per one -way packaging and 0.20 euros per single -’s best, so a maximum of 1.50 euros for a single meal. The income achieved with this is intended to reduce the litter and at the same time relieve urban households. Detailed information on this offers Jura online .

packaging taxes in focus

Overall, there is already a clear trend: More and more cities are thinking about introducing similar taxes. The case of the city of Kassel, which introduced a packaging tax in the 1990s, only to fail to fail before the Federal Constitutional Court is aware of many. Tübingen, on the other hand, seems to have been able to meet the legal requirements as well as to achieve measurable success - the waste rate has decreased significantly since the introduction of the tax, and the number of restaurateurs who use reusable tanks has quadrupled.
The cities of Freiburg and Constance have already announced that the legal framework for these tax Heinrich-Böll-Foundation notes:

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