"The local tax will only rest on the owners"

MEPs debate the abolition of the housing tax in 2023 for main residences. The consequences are dizzying for communities: municipalities, departments, state. Philippe Laurent, the secretary general of the Association of Mayors of France, analyzes the effects of the reform.

The finance law for 2020 provides for the abolition of the housing tax for principal residences. What will be the consequences for the communities concerned? The analysis of Philippe Laurent, Secretary General of the Association of Mayors of France. Philippe Laurent, Mayor UDI de Sceaux, Secretary General of the Association of Mayors of France.

What effect will the reform have on your commune?

We will lose 14 million euros of housing tax. And recover three million property tax. The difference, eleven million, will be allocated to the commune as a state grant. On this amount, we will no longer have the power to increase rates. We are still nationalizing the tax …

The state, however, promises that this amount will increase over time.

We ask to see … Today, the bases increase each year according to inflation. This increases the resources to cope with the increase in population. If the recipes stagnate, it stuck.

In the end, who will pay the local tax?

Remember that the housing tax is paid by the occupants, tenants or owners. With the end of the housing tax, the tax will no longer rest on the owners, who will continue to pay the property tax. However, some municipalities, which have a lot of social housing, have only 20% of owners … This creates an inequality between citizens. Mayors may have no choice but to increase the property tax. The owners will eventually also ask for its removal. All this will cut the tax bond with the citizens.

This worries you?

Yes. Tax Consent is the Republican Foundation. If citizens ask for new services, they can expect this to translate into higher tax burdens. All this must be debated. But if there is no longer a tax link, how to involve citizens in local life?

The departments will lose their property tax. Instead, they will have a fraction of the VAT. That makes resources less for the state?

Yes. The state will widen its deficit … As soon as one removes almost a tax, one loses resources. It is a very bad reform.

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INTERVIEW. End of the housing tax: "The local tax will only rest on the owners"Ouest-France.fr

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