Because it suddenly has tax revenue of an unexpected amount, the Hessian university town of Marburg has invested 350 million euros in a special fund.
As 2021 was coming to an end, Thomas Spies realized that he was facing a challenge for which the term “luxury problem” was invented: what to do with all the millions?
At first he was happy, but then he felt a little uneasy. How, he asked himself, could he now keep everyone in check who wanted to spend all that money? Spies is the mayor of Marburg. And what was announced to him by post was an almost unheard of chunk of money: the city was to receive a total of 480 million euros in trade tax. “A cash receipt of almost 500 million is not our standard now. We were all a bit worried about the head of the cash department,” says Spies. In normal years it is 150 million euros – which is a very respectable sum for a municipality of this size.
Source: Stern
