The Hamburg City Parliament has decided against the introduction of a municipal packaging tax. A corresponding motion by the left-wing parliamentary group was rejected.
The Hanseatic city will not be getting a municipal packaging tax after all, according to various associations. A majority of the Hamburg city council has spoken out against a tax modelled on the one in Tübingen. The political representatives mainly cite the bureaucratic effort that the tax would entail. They also question the effectiveness of such a tax.
According to the environmental protection organisation BUND, around 170,000 disposable coffee cups are sold in Hamburg every day, which then end up in the rubbish. Added to this is packaging for fast food and much more. This could at least partially prevented with a municipal tax on disposable tableware The supporters argue that this would not be the case. A majority in Hamburg's parliament has now taken a different view.
They received approval from various associations, including the German Hotel and Catering Association (Dehoga) and the German Retail Association (HDE). These had already pointed out the Impending burdens for the companies that would be associated with the introduction of a municipal packaging tax. According to the associations, the spectrum of effects ranges from excessive bureaucracy to Municipal patchwork regulations up to the excessive financial burden for packaging.
Since the Federal Constitutional Court's decision on the legality of the municipal packaging tax, there have been Many municipalities throughout Germany are considering the introduction of a municipal packaging tax. The tax is to be introduced in Cologne, Heidelberg and Freiburg in 2025 and 2026 respectively. More than 100 other municipalities are interested in introducing the tax in principle.
Source: HDE
