The FDP parliamentary group in the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament wants to legally ban the introduction of a municipal packaging tax.

To this end, the NRW Liberals have introduced a draft bill – similar to a bill proposed by the Bavarian state government – to amend the Local Tax Act for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (KAG), in which they refer to the considerable economic and bureaucratic burdens they see associated with a municipal packaging tax. After the Federal Constitutional Court ruled in November 2024 that the Tübingen packaging tax statute was constitutional, cities in North Rhine-Westphalia such as Cologne and Bonn are now also preparing corresponding draft statutes, according to the motion submitted by the North Rhine-Westphalia FDP. However, the party does not see any ecological added value in the municipal packaging tax, as the actual effect of such a municipal tax would be limited. In Tübingen, for example, the reuse rates are said to have remained unchanged, while takeaway food had become significantly more expensive. In addition, different regulations on packaging tax may apply in each municipality, leading to a patchwork of regulations and severely disadvantaging regional companies. For the municipalities themselves, the tax involved high administrative and personnel costs, but consistent monitoring was hardly affordable. The packaging tax also overlaped with existing federal and European legal requirements, such as the Packaging Act and the future EU Packaging Regulation (PPWR), which already provided for measures to promote reusable packaging and waste prevention, according to the FDP parliamentary group's argument. Therefore, the Local Tax Act should include a ban on municipal packaging taxes in order to better ensure economic fairness, legal clarity and ecological effectiveness at a higher level, it continues. The aim should rather be to reconcile ecological responsibility and economic rationality in a dialogue between business, local authorities and consumers.
 
‘North Rhine-Westphalia does not need new taxes that help neither the environment nor the people,’ says FDP state leader Henning Höne. A municipal packaging tax would place a massive burden on small businesses in the catering and retail sectors in particular. The draft law is intended to provide clarity and legal certainty and to prohibit municipal packaging taxes under state law.
 
Sources:

• Press release from the FDP parliamentary group in the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament (3.9.2025)
• Photo: © FDP Landtagsfraktion NRW