Debate on housing tax, city halls oppose government plan

Debate on housing tax, city halls oppose government plan

Municipalities are in disagreement with the government over the choice to allocate the responsibility of collecting the housing tax to the Electricity Distribution Operator.

The head of the Association of Municipalities, Agron Haxhimali, declared that this opposes the spirit of the decentralization reform, as a local tax will be collected by a state institution.

According to Haxhimali, the Electricity Distribution Operator was supposed to be an option rather than the only agent for collecting this tax.

According to Haxhimali, the government is showing itself to not be serious with the adoption of legal acts, because at a time when the municipalities were preparing for the scheme, they have made another change.

Local Units demand that the benefit to be received by the Electricity Distribution Operator be established between the municipalities and this institution, and not be sanctioned by decision at 4% as is currently proposed.

The new housing tax collection methodology came into force on the 1st of April, 2018, but has not yet started to apply throughout the country as the municipalities were not yet ready. For citizens, the housing tax is set at 0.05% while for businesses 0.2%.

EMISIONET