Good evening, hopefully you are not one of the 400,000
Hessian property owners who have still not submitted the information for the new property tax to the tax office. If it does, then quickly. Because 2.4 million others have long since done so, and gradually the tone of the tax offices is becoming stricter, as the deadlines have long since expired. In his commentary, my colleague Ralf Euler also has little sympathy for those who have not yet fulfilled their duties, as the headline above the text already testifies to: 'Stupid, lazy, cheeky'. Well, hopefully no one wants to be accused of that. Which, of course, does not mean that everything will be fine around the new property tax. In principle, a reform is certainly overdue, as the previous calculations were based on values from 1964, and that was quite a long time ago. However, the treasurers will be closely watched to see whether the changeover from the old to the new calculation bases is really not used to increase the volume at the respective location. This has been promised over and over again by the municipalities.

Manfred Köhler

Head of the Rhein-Main editorial department of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

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Yes, it's always good to take a close look. Colleague Ewald Hetrodt, correspondent of the Rhein-Main editorial office for state politics in Wiesbaden, had recently reported exclusively that the public prosecutor's office is investigating the SPD member of the state parliament Marius Weiss because he is said to have forged his parking permit for the state parliament. Now Hetrodt adds that apparently also the wife of Weiss is being investigated, who is said to have used this ID card to park where she is not actually allowed to do so during the weeks of the session. Of course, the honourable Member has asked for statements from the two of them, but there are none.

It is usually not looked so closely at whether cyclists adhere to the rules. Driving into an intersection when the light is red is common in Frankfurt. At the Senckenberganlage, however, cyclists will be able to legally ignore a red light in the future, but only if they turn right: There is now a green arrow only for these road users. Motorists will have to wait. But they follow the traffic rules much more anyway and are therefore used to such things.

And in addition, according to a survey, there is considerable dissatisfaction with the city center in Wiesbaden +++ the strike of truck drivers at the Gräfenhausen rest area reveals grievances in the opinion of the Federal Association of Road Haulage +++ the Frankfurt composer Rolf Riehm has presented a new CD.

Quick reminder: On Friday strike at the railway, and speed camera marathon on the streets of Hesse!

We wish you a pleasant evening

Yours, Manfred Köhler

You can also read the latest news from the region in Skyline-Blick, our news liveblog for the Rhine-Main region, and on the website of the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

The tip for the weekend

The "Ruby" hotel chain is a young group that will soon operate 20 hotels in more than a dozen European cities. Each hotel has a different middle name, in Cologne it is "Ella", in Dublin "Molly" and in Frankfurt "Louise", which, according to the website, goes back to Louise von Rothschild. On the sixth floor of the house, guests will find a mighty counter that is all in one: reception, bar and meeting place - and in good weather the starting point for the large roof terrace. Well-made cocktails, wine, pizza and sandwiches are offered in an unagitated, urban ambience.

"Ruby Louise Bar", Neue Rothofstraße 3, Frankfurt, phone 0 69/9 45 15 87 70, Internet www.ruby-hotels.com.

The weather for Friday

First cloudy, local showers, thunderstorms are possible in the Taunus. Later more and more sunshine. Highs 17 to 19 degrees.

Have a birthday

on Friday

Carola Lentz, ethnologist, president of the Goethe-Institut, senior research professor at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (69); Axel Weiss-Thiel (SPD), outgoing mayor of the city of Hanau (62); Markus Karsten, Managing Director of Westend-Verlag, Frankfurt (57);

on Saturday

Peter Schirmer, Chairman of the Casino Association, Wiesbaden (76); Michael Gahler (CDU), Member of the European Parliament, Groß-Gerau (63); Khaled Ezzedine, Wiesbaden real estate entrepreneur, managing director of the Boris Becker International Tennis Academy in Hochheim (53); Dirk Martin, founder and managing director of Serviceware SE, Idstein, state chairman of the Hessian Association of Family Entrepreneurs (52); Lars Wöhler, Managing Director of the Darmstadt Science and Congress Centre (50);

on Sunday

Friedrich von Metzler, benefactor and patron of the arts, long-time personally liable partner of Bankhaus Metzler, honorary citizen of the city of Frankfurt (80); Alexander Heberer, former Managing Director of the Viennese confectionery Heberer, Mühlheim, Vice President of the Offenbach Chamber of Industry and Commerce (65); Hilime Arslaner, head of the city council in the Frankfurt city parliament (52); Jürg Schiltknecht, Chairman of the Board of Management of Baloise Versicherungen Deutschland, Bad Homburg (52); Jan Jöckel, Managing Director of the computer games studio Keen Games, Frankfurt (51); Levent Kunt, artist living in Frankfurt (45).

Information on events can be found online.