Reform in Luxembourg: Up to 7,500 euros tax for housing left empty
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Reform in LuxembourgUp to 7,500 euros in tax for accommodation left empty
LUXEMBOURG – The government presented a series of concrete measures on Friday that are supposed to help put more homes on the market.
“The goal is not to generate additional revenue, but to eliminate the injustices of the current system”, launched Taina Bofferding (LSAP), Minister of the Interior, presenting Friday, as expected, property tax reform. The values used have been updated, a first since… 1941! In addition, the minister proposed “a new, more objective, transparent and fair land evaluation model”. The owners of their only principal residence can breathe: this one will benefit from an abatement.
The property tax reform is part of a package of actions to get more homes on the market as the country suffers from a severe shortage. A tax on the mobilization of land is thus created, in order to “encourage construction”. To levy this tax, the State will rely on a new “national register of non-integrated funds”, the purpose of which will be to list the land not used in the PAGs. The government specifies “that a distinction will be made between immediately constructible land and non-serviced funds, requiring the carrying out of road works”.
A vote within a year
Dwellings built but not occupied will also be targeted, in order to place them on the market. As such, the national tax on non-occupancy of housing replaces the optional municipal tax of 2008. Owners will have to pay 3,000 euros per year for each dwelling thus left without an occupant, a sum increased by 900 euros per year. up to a ceiling of 7,500 euros. “Leaving unoccupied housing is a luxury that we can no longer afford”, summarizes Henri Kox (Déi Gréng), Minister of Housing.
For this last tax, the State also provides for the creation of an inventory, the national register of buildings and housing. In the future, this should also be used by municipalities to “accompany the implementation of legislation on health and the rental of furnished rooms”. The government hopes to have these changes passed by the Chamber of Deputies by the end of the legislature, in a year.