As if the pressures on the German street market currently were not enough, now the country’s local communities are stepping up their ‘Vergnüngssteuer’, or entertainment tax, on AWP machines.
The tax has always been there, but has always been maintained at reasonable levels. Now, however, the local communities are stepping up the tax to very uncomfortable levels.
The entertainment tax varies wildly, according to the region. Most communities charge 10-13 per cent of the gross cashbox. In Hamburg, for example, the total money inserted into the machine is taxed at just five per cent, but that approximates to 20 per cent of the gross cashbox.
Elsewhere the figures are similar. Frankfurt am Main plans to increase the entertainment tax from 12 per cent to 20 per cent of the gross cashbox on January 1, 2013.
