IKD urges Government to suspend property tax expensive decision by 2025

Researchers from this institute have said that under the Law on Property a legal provision allows the government to assess property in 2025.

Thus, the IKD urges the Government to suspend the property tax expensive decision by 2025.

IKD researcher Naim Jakaj points out that the Government of Kosovo can suspend this decision by 2025, as the country has gone into various crises, and that decision is unreasonable.

According to Jakaj, the finance minister's idea of pardoning property taxes to 100 euros could be made only through changing the Law on Property.

“With the Law on Real Property Tax, the first assessment was made in 2019, and by the same law, re-evaluation takes place every three years or every five years, then the government has rushed to re-evaluation after three years. It was possible to do it in the fifth year, taking it to the three crises we had, the HVIID health pandemic crisis, the crisis from Russian aggression in Ukraine, which caused the third crisis to rise prices as a result of increased oil and other derivatives... the government on the basis of the law has a legal provision to make it even in 2025, so it could now suspend this re-evaluation that was done in 2021 and send it to further re-evaluation of the prices in 2025, but now it hasn't been able to push it to a further 2025.

He says the increase at this time of property tax has burdened citizens. According to Jakaj, even if this decision was allowed, the government would have to take the lives of citizens for the sake of making the most of the financial crisis.

I should have suspended re-evaluation, brought in bills like they were in 2021, and re-evaluated it in 2025, because that's what the law allows, it should have applied, not brought in new bills, which citizens cannot afford... At this unreasonably, the decision to reevaluate property in 2019 is now being made in 2022. It's unfair in the sense that the law allows it to do it in 2025, and the other is that even if it doesn't allow it, a government that's based on the citizen would think that the new increased fate would burden more citizens' living”, Jakaj told the KP.

Among other things, Jakaj said that property tax cannot forgive municipalities, as he emphasises, can be paid off, but only by law. Until he added that they are awaiting change of law.

“Property tax cannot forgive municipalities, but it can be done on the basis of legal changes which the Republic of Kosovo's Parliament must make with the Ministry of Finance, Labour and Trade proposal... In January of this year, the citizens of Kosovo have received the new bill, which has been fourfold, is the value which has come in proportion to the income they have received, has been much greater... Thus, there can be forgiveness of debt, but only by law. The law is meant to be changed by 31 March, and we expect to see what this change will be like”, Jakaj added.

Last Thursday in the Kosovo Assembly, the draft resolution submitted by the LDK to address the issue of raising property tax bills, which contained three key points.

This party, through the resolution, demanded that the Finance Ministry initially suspend property re-evaluation and property tax bills for 2023, be counted according to preliminary assessment.

While the assembly has decided that this resolution on addressing the issue of increasing property tax bills should be carried as a voting point at the next session.

For the expensive property tax, there have been numerous reactions from opposition deputies and citizens.