The Ministry of Finances is going to submit its real estate taxation draft bill of for discussion in Parliament on Thursday, which is rumored to aim for 2.65 billion euros in revenue, while the budget claims 3.9 billion euros will be collected through the taxation of property.
The Deputy Ministry of Finances Christos Staikouras explained that the taxes on property will only increase by 250 million euros, despite claims that the increase will be about 1.2 billion euros. Mr. Staikouras also revealed that the tax services are collecting the real estate tax of three years in 2013, among other taxes of previous financial years. The final draft of the bill will be voted before the budget on the 7th of December.
Despite repeated calls for a reduction in objective values of real estate, the Ministry has not included any such provisions on the basis that they are only used for the ranking of property and are not directly taxed. Furthermore, any changes would provoke hikes in underprivileged areas and reductions in affluent areas.
