The Black Book 2023/2024

11th place: The ranking

The Black Book is an annual publication by the Taxpayers’ Association in Germany, in which various cases of waste of taxpayers’ money and public resources are exposed and criticized. The purpose of the publication is to inform the public about such waste and to make taxpayers aware of how their funds are being used. The Black Book 2023, which was published on October 17, 23, offers a large number of examples of tax waste, ten cases of which are presented below.

Source: Taxpayers’ Association, Image: Hadrian / Shutterstock.com

10th place: election advertising at taxpayer expense

The Bremen Senate Chancellery sent invitations by post to citizens for ten of the twelve “citizens’ meetings” in several districts of Bremen. This happened without any prior request or request from citizens and resulted in costs for shipping, printing and shipping preparation totaling 85,129.39 euros. The invitations were initially sent as direct mail, but were later switched to more expensive, personally addressed invitation letters, which end up in the mailbox even if the sticker “No advertising please” is attached.

In addition, the portrait of the mayor up for re-election could be seen on the envelope, which raises suspicions of additional election advertising at tax costs. The Taxpayers’ Association criticizes the fact that it is important and right for a mayor to seek dialogue with citizens, but that the expensive sending of invitations by post without prior request or request from citizens is not appropriate. According to the Taxpayers’ Association, this approach gives the impression of election advertising at the taxpayer’s expense.

Source: Taxpayers’ Association, Image: KYNA STUDIO / Shutterstock.com

9th place: deadline missed

In the past, the waste management company in the Hanover region (aha) had to pay for the disposal of waste wood. In 2020, waste wood disposal was put out to tender and the additional payment was between 12 and 20 euros per ton. Due to the energy crisis, waste wood was traded again at a positive price in the summer of 2022, up to 65 euros per ton, depending on the type of wood. Municipal waste management companies could now generate income from recycling waste wood instead of paying for it. The aha published a tender for the disposal of around 34,000 tonnes of waste wood for the period October 2022 to September 2023. However, the association later withdrew this tender because the deadline for terminating the old contracts had already passed and the old contracts were under unfavorable conditions were extended for another year.

The Taxpayers’ Association criticizes this omission, which resulted in financial damage of around 700,000 euros. However, those responsible for this mismanagement have not been held accountable. Instead, the failure to comply with the notice periods was dismissed as a “professional oversight” and, from the taxpayers’ association’s perspective, the promised seamless and transparent communication was not adhered to.

Source: Taxpayers’ Association, Image: Rainer Sturm / pixelio.de

8th place: Costly window renovation

The Landeshaus in Kiel, which was built in 1888 as the Imperial Naval Academy and is a listed building, should be renovated to improve energy efficiency. Due to monument protection requirements, the building’s 500 dilapidated wooden windows could not simply be replaced with new ones. Instead, the remaining wooden parts in around half of the windows had to be preserved and refurbished. This resulted in costs of around 3 million euros, an average of around 6,000 euros per window. The Taxpayers’ Association demands that monument protection be carried out with a sense of proportion and that the costs are taken into account. As an alternative, it is proposed to use the 3 million euros to build a school cafeteria for around 1,200 students.

Source: Taxpayers’ Association, Image: Uwe-Jens Kahl / pixelio.de

7th place: Costs for piers are exploding

The municipality of Scharbeutz is planning to renew two piers that are very popular with tourists. Originally, 18.8 million euros were earmarked for this, with 90 percent funding from the state of Schleswig-Holstein. However, the costs rose to around 37.7 million euros, but instead of rethinking the plans or forgoing a bridge, the state has now agreed to cover 85 percent of the increased costs. This means that the state is paying almost 15 million euros more than planned, and the municipality has to raise almost 3.8 million euros from taxpayers’ money. The Taxpayers’ Association criticizes this development and points out that the plans should have been reconsidered and priorities set in view of increasing costs. As an alternative, it is proposed to use the additional funds to build around 190 km of cycle paths.

Source: Taxpayers Association, Image: Songchai W / Shutterstock.com

6th place: Expensive home for otters

The Multimar Wattforum in Tönning, the central information facility for the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park, decided to build an otter facility with an outdoor enclosure and exhibition building in order to make the facility more attractive. Originally the cost was supposed to be 5 million euros, but after opening the total cost was 9.2 million euros. The Taxpayers’ Association criticizes the enormous costs of the otter facility and argues that these will never be financed through additional visitor income. The project will therefore become an expensive burden for taxpayers. As an alternative, the Taxpayers’ Association points out that the 9 million euros could have been used to purchase 30 fire engines for disaster control.

Source: Taxpayers’ Association, Image: Laura Hedien / Shutterstock.com

5th place: Rent payment despite vacancy

The city of Hamburg wanted to bring together various public prosecutor’s office locations in a new building. The lease was signed in 2019, but the move, which was scheduled for September 2022, has not yet taken place. However, according to the information in the black book, the city must pay a monthly “loss of use compensation” of 392,533.08 euros, which already amounted to 4 million euros at the time of going to press in July 2023. The construction work in the building has not yet been completed and there is no fixed moving date. In addition, the total annual rental costs will almost double after the move, from 4.42 million euros to 7.48 million euros. The Taxpayers’ Association criticizes the inefficiency and incompetence of those responsible and complains that the annual rent is almost doubled.

Source: Taxpayers’ Association, Image: Bernd Sterzl / pixelio.de

4th place: Expensive unity party

The 2023 German Unity Day celebrations in Hamburg had an unusually high budget compared to previous years, with a total of 7 million euros, as the black book reveals. The community festival alone had a budget of 3.5 million euros and public relations work cost 500,000 euros. What was particularly noticeable, however, was the amount of almost 37,000 euros for the development of the logo and motto. The Taxpayers’ Association criticizes the high costs and demands that the federal states should limit spending on German Unity Day. A possible measure would therefore be to use only one logo each year, which only updates the venue and the date. It is considered incomprehensible to develop a completely new logo every year when it is about the Day of All Germans. The Taxpayers’ Association is generally demanding that the rising costs for German Unity Day be limited.

Source: Taxpayers’ Association, Image: Vladimir Wrangel / Shutterstock.com

3rd place: Suspended mayor collects tax money

In 2019, the mayor of Homburg, Scheibewind, was convicted in a criminal trial and suspended from office. Cutting his salary by up to 50 percent was discussed, but in fact it was only reduced by around 20 percent, to around 7,600 euros per month. Although disciplinary proceedings were suspended,schneidewind was convicted of breach of trust in 2021, and in March 2022 the Federal Court of Justice confirmed the verdict. The suspended disciplinary proceedings were resumed, but a year and a half later there was still no decision. The Interior Ministry did not comment in detail on how long the process would take, and the city of Homburg denied any responsibility. The Taxpayers’ Association criticizes the long-term financial burden on taxpayers and calls for clarity on this matter.

Source: Taxpayers’ Association, Image: ER___09 / Shutterstock.com

2nd place: Dispute over startup funding

In 2021, the city of Hamburg awarded a contract for a fintech accelerator to strengthen innovative financial companies without a tender to a company that was politically connected to the city’s finance senator. This was done with reference to the rush due to the use of Corona funds. The total cost of the project was 18 million euros, of which 1.3 million euros were to be paid as a fee to the commissioned company. The EU Commission criticized the award without a tender. In January 2022, the project was canceled due to public controversy. The company claimed damages and, following an arbitration agreement, the city of Hamburg paid the company €370,000. A public-private partnership was later founded to strengthen Hamburg as a financial location, which from the taxpayers’ association’s perspective raises the question of why external consultants were originally necessary. In total, the taxpayer paid 649,500 euros for the canceled project.

Source: Taxpayers’ Association, Image: frank_peters / Shutterstock.com

1st place: Expensive tips for saving energy

In 2022, the federal government launched an expensive information campaign to reduce energy consumption and promote renewable energies. The concrete impact of this campaign is uncertain and some of its messages are unsurprising, according to the Taxpayers’ Association. The cost of the campaign in 2022 was around €38.8 million, and it is planned with annual spending of up to €15 million until the end of 2025, bringing the total cost to over €83 million by the end of the campaign could, as the Black Book reveals. From the perspective of the taxpayers’ association, the campaign is expensive and fraught with uncertainty, as it is unclear whether it will achieve the desired goals.

Source: Taxpayers’ Association, Image: ponsulak / Shutterstock.com