How Germany burns through public money
Germany's Taxpayers' Association, an organization some consider a lobby group that favors lowering taxes, has released its annual "black book," listing what it considers egregious examples of wasting public money.
Waste despite debts
In Germany, an estimated half of all monetary transactions flow at some point through public coffers. The country's public debt has now grown to well over €2 trillion ($2.32 trillion), with the federal budget alone including expenditures of over €540 billion.
Fizzled-out incentive for e-car purchases
Electric cars are supposed to drive us out of the climate crisis. To get more e-cars on the road, the federal government doubled the subsidy for them in mid-2020. According to the Taxpayers' Association, the "innovation premium" was paid out a total of 46,000 times, but sometimes for purchases made before the new subsidy was announced. Incentive effect: zero. Cost: €120 million.
Digitization in the wrong place: Highway app
Germany is lagging behind in many areas when it comes to digitization; there is a lot to be done. However, whether the "Autobahn app" presented in July will bring practical benefits is questionable: Established apps and navigation systems can do much the same, and more. The federal government spent €1.2 million to develop the app.
Desirable, tried and tested — but still expensive to remove
Cycling is good for climate protection, but bike lanes are expensive. A model project of the German Transport Ministry tested the effect of painting protective lanes. Two counties in Lower Saxony found that they were beneficial. Nevertheless, the federal and state governments had the markings removed at great expense. The cost for the seven kilometers (4.3 miles) was just under €800,000.
The federal government and its new IT
The federal government and its agencies need up-to-date IT equipment, no doubt about it. Work has been underway on this since 2015, when the costs were estimated to be in the "mid-three-digit million range." But the mammoth task is more complex than expected. The "Federal IT Consolidation" was reorganized in 2020. Current estimated cost: €3.4 billion, with plenty of room for improvement.
The Bundestag: A permanent construction site
More than 10 years after construction began, the Bundestag's new offices at the Reichstag building are still not done. Construction delays almost always mean increased construction costs. In this case, the expected building time has tripled and the costs have almost doubled: to €332 million. Equipment that had already been installed had to be retrofitted because of new legal requirements.
Expensive greed among treasurers
At the beginning of March, the Greensill Bank in Bremen was forced to close, due to impending insolvency. It was a dark day for many mayors and city treasurers. Dozens of municipalities had entrusted the private bank with around €350 million, despite warnings about the too-good-to-be-true promised high returns.
King football demands his toll
The football club VfB Lübeck was so proud: Promotion to the third tier of German football. But if you want to play in it, you need certain infrastructure, such as a heated pitch. In the 2020/21 season, work began on the renovation, one day after the last home game — funded with €1.5 million of taxpayers' money. The only problem was that by that time, the club had once again been relegated.
Trouble in the idyll on the lake
Lake Max Eyth is one of the most popular recreational areas near Stuttgart. To prevent people and animals from getting in each other's way, the city had a 21-meter-long solid wooden wall built at a cost of €85,000 — to protect breeding birds. Walkers protested, and the Taxpayers' Association said: "Dialogue would have been helpful and a smaller wall would have sufficed."
Two 'groundbreakings' and a late start
It's not a question of large sums. But for the Taxpayers' Association, this example reveals the attitude of those involved: About 20 kilometers of federal road in Schleswig-Holstein is to be expanded. A "groundbreaking ceremony" was held twice: First with the state transport minister, then with a state secretary from Berlin. The actual expansion is not scheduled to begin until next summer.