Grundsteuerreform und Gleichmäßigkeit der Besteuerung

Abstract

The property tax is in need of a reform, since the currently used values are outdated and hence do not satisfy the requirement of a fair taxation anymore. In light of the valuation of approximately 35M properties, a standardized valuation procedure is inevitable. In the present analysis of the valuation of rental properties and single- and two-family houses in Berlin, we find that space-related approaches produce considerably less consistent results than value-based approaches. Though the results of the value-based approaches appear to be ambiguous. For rental properties, referring to annual rents provides the most accurate valuation results. For owner-occupied properties, the best results are achieved by the sales comparison approach which is used for inheritance tax purposes. But even for these two valuation methods, the variance of the assessed values is fairly high and even a mispricing of more than 35 percent occurs frequently. If this is not considered acceptable, the property tax has to be abolished entirely.