Toulouse Metropolis. What is this new tax that has appeared on tax notices?
By Guillaume Laurent
Published on
This is the painful back-to-school season for many taxpayers. The property tax arrives at the beginning of September at the owners, and the opening of this mail is particularly feared at Toulouse like everywhere in France, in times of inflation. If it is not easy to know how to read between the lines of a tax notice, it also sometimes conceals some surprises… Especially when there are new taxes. Here’s what to remember.
Rates don’t go up, but bases go up
For the inhabitants of the Pink City and its Metropolis, there is at least one good news: unlike other large cities, the rates of the municipal share (in the city of Toulouse, in any case), of the intercommunal, but also the tax on household waste, remain stables in the Metropolis of Toulouse, “unlike many other large cities in France”, observes Sacha Briand, the grand treasurer of the Capitol.
“Taxation in Toulouse Métropole has not changed since 2015,” insists the vice-president for finance, who is also deputy mayor. “When we compare ourselves to other cities, we can clearly see that there is a real effort to control taxation, while our territory is developing”.
What are the major cities where taxes are rising the most?
Unlike Toulouse, the property tax rates set by local authorities are soaring this year in several large cities in France, according to a study by the FSL firm published in the spring of 2022. At the head of the gondola, the municipality of Marseille, which chose to increase its property tax rate followed by 14%, that of Tours (11.6%) and that of Nantes (9%). The taxpayers of Strasbourg will have to face an increase of 8.9%, those of Montreuil of 7.4%, those of Annecy of 5% and those of Saint-Étienne of 3.1%. Rates are from stables in Paris, Lyon, or Lille. Unsurprisingly, they are not falling anywhere in France.
The bill will still increase
But the bill will still increase for the people of Toulouse, because if the rates, fixed by the communities (City and Metropolis) remain restored, it is not the same for the tax bases. These, which correspond to the rental value of real estate, are reassessed by the State each year in the Finance Act, in particular according to inflation consumers. With each time, increases as painful as disguised, since their evolution is not mentioned in the tax notices, contrary to the rates voted by the communities. Or, the bases expand again by 3.4% in 2022 for the approximately 32 million French people who own real estate, as indicated on Tuesday March 29, the Directorate General of Public Finances.
If for Sacha Briand, it is always good to remember that “the bases increase on the decision of parliament”, the elected official estimates: “The increase is significantly below the inflation that we all suffer, but we must also take into account the situation of the households”.
Slight increase in special taxes
And this is not the only increase that Toulouse taxpayers will have to face, who are also seeing an increase in two columns of ancillary taxes.
On one side, the taxes special equipment, which are collected for the benefit of EPFL local public land establishments), as well as state public land establishments. Their rate rises from 0.378% to 0.415% in Metropolitan France, which generally represents one or a few euros more. Note, however, that in the Pink City, the EPFL of Greater Toulouse has not increased its rate.
A new tax that is appearing in Toulouse
When it comes to paying their property tax, the inhabitants of Toulouse Métropole will also and above all see the appearance of figures in a new column. Four euros for some, six euros for others, 12 euros for still others… “Gemapi” tax – not to be confused with Génépi, which is much more digestible – appeared for the first time on the tax notices of the inhabitants of Toulouse Métropole. If this tax for the management of aquatic environments and the prevention of floods is optionalthe intercommunality had decided, last spring, to activate it for the first time.
Where does this flood tax come from?
Better known as “flood tax”, this tax is intended to finance expenses related to the management of waterways and flood risks. Created in 2015 under François Hollande, it was only activated from 2018, at the whim of elected officials. Since that date, more and more local authorities have chosen to institute it in their territories. In 2020, some 16,747 municipalities already levied the Gemapi tax, i.e. nearly half of the municipalities in the country.
Namely that the receipts received must be assigned to the financing of actions related to this new competence: development of watersheds, maintenance and development of watercourses, canals, lakes and bodies of water, defense against floods, protection and restoration of wetlands, or hydraulic development and maintenance, etc.
“We were extremely measured”
As stipulated article 1530 bis of the General Tax Code, all the communes which exercise the competence of management of aquatic environments and flood prevention can, by deliberation, establish this tax. But this competence is often ensured by the intermunicipalities, the agglomerations and the metropolises can “institute and collect this tax in place of their member municipalities”. This is particularly the case in the Occitan capital. Result: all the taxpayers of the 37 municipalities of the Metropolis therefore finds itself, as of this year, to pay the new Gemapi tax.
“The State transferred this competence to us in 2015 without any resources. However, the management of aquatic environments and the prevention of floods require significant investments. Because if we want to be able to implement the flood prevention plan on the territory, we must have the appropriate means…”
“As a matter of fact, we have been extremely measured” in the introduction of this tax, however, believes the elected official. This new tax would represent – to date – only “a few euros” additional per taxpayer.
Who pays this tax?
Are liable for this “flood tax” all natural or legal persons subject to property taxes on built and unbuilt properties, but also to housing tax (being phased out, editor’s note) and at the property tax on companies.
The GEMAPI tax is therefore an additional tax to these taxes, the additional rates of which are calculated on the basis of the product voted by the local authority. However, the state sets a maximum ceiling for this fee: “€40 per inhabitant”, residing in the relevant territory under its jurisdiction.
Several tens of euros increase for taxpayers
On arrival, the final bill often increases by several tens of euros for Toulouse taxpayers. Although municipal and intermunicipal rates on built land are not increasing, readers are part of significant changes in their taxes: an additional 47 euros here, more than 100 euros there… A real blow for the wallet, in full inflation . And again, it is in the municipalities where the rates do not vary!
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