Abraham: Property tax forgiveness saves citizens, harms municipalities

The adoption of meeting the change of the Property Tax Law is estimated to hurt municipalities with millions of euros. According to the Kosovo Communist Association, municipalities expect to be compensated for losses that would suffer with the forgiveness of 100 euros under the bill.

The executive director of the Kosovo Commission Association, Saban Ibrahimi, says municipalities in this case will suffer financial damage because the means will not compensate the central level. He explains to Radio Kosovo that this 100-euro pardon for citizens is only for this year.

“Citizens should know that next year they will pay the property tax bill with the establishment the Ministry of Finance made during 1923. This pardon will only be valid for 2023, because in the coming years the property tax bill will be paid with what was done by the Finance Ministry”, he said.

Sahan Ibrahimi said it is pointless for the central level to make decisions for the local level.

“We have been surprised at the urgency Kosovo Parliament has undertaken in terms of adopting this law, because we have expected the mayors and municipalities to consult first, because property tax and property revenues are inflows of municipalities and are not at the central level of”, he said.

The researcher for the Progress Initiative (INPO), Valmir Ilazi, considers that the payment of 100 euros of taxes for citizens is welcome. However, this decision, he says, will affect municipal revenues.

The “will influence lower municipal revenues, since the main source of municipalities is tax and will influence the projects and capital investments that municipalities already plan for procurement”, Ilazi said.

Meanwhile, in the Kosovo Assembly, the law has been passed that expensives property tax. Otherwise, taxes depending on the value of property have increased 100%, and there's still the same somewhere.