Taxpayers' Association criticizes tax waste in Baden-Württemberg

Parasols under trees, an expensive pedestrian bridge, a supposedly unnecessary cycle path expansion: In its annual "Black Book", the Taxpayers' Association also lists eight cases from Baden-Württemberg in which, from the association's point of view, citizens' money was handled too carelessly. In one case, the association praised the fact that an expensive project had been dropped.

Under the heading “Bizarre”, the Taxpayers’ Association deals with the heat action plan of the state capital Stuttgart. She criticizes the fact that in the summer of 2025, among other things, a parasol was placed on the market square in the Botnang district directly under a plane tree that had already provided large areas of shade. The city informed the association that the location had been chosen after a compromise with market suppliers and that the umbrella should be implemented if there was a better location.

Also expensive bridge in Mannheim

The association also criticizes the renovation of the well-known “Café Planie” in Stuttgart, which has been going on for years. The case is a typical example of never-ending construction projects. Other cases from Baden-Württemberg in the compilation include an expensive cycle and pedestrian bridge in Mannheim, what the association believes is an unnecessarily expensive expansion of a cycle path in the Böblingen district, as well as the World Games planned in Karlsruhe and the planned construction of a biosphere center in the Black Forest.

However, the Taxpayers' Association describes as a success the fact that an advertising project in Stuttgart that, from the association's point of view, was clearly too expensive was dropped. The CDU parliamentary group in the city council wanted to have a Stuttgart lettering installed on the market square as a selfie hotspot. Cost: 470,000 euros. After much criticism, the decision to abandon the idea was announced in July.

Black book is controversial

The Taxpayers' Association is a private association that politically advocates, among other things, the efficient use of tax money and solid state finances, i.e. it questions the federal government's new debt and spending. He lobbies for this in the Bundestag and with highly publicized campaigns. The Taxpayers' Association emphasizes that it is politically neutral.

But the Black Book is controversial. One criticism is that it only lists spectacular individual cases, but often ignores their context and does not paint a representative overall picture of tax waste. Authorities and municipalities named therein often defend themselves against the allegations and justify their financial decisions.