Companies from 51 industrial and commercial locations with increased traffic load will pay higher property tax in Liberec from next year. It will remain the same for the others. It was approved by the city councillors yesterday, with only ODS against. According to Mayor Jaroslav Zámečník (Mayors for the Liberec Region), the town hall should gain an additional CZK 35-40 million annually, while this year’s income from property tax is about CZK 244 million.
Due to last year’s amendment to the law, municipalities can only set property tax for specifically listed buildings by issuing a general ordinance, whereas previously it was possible by decree. City Hall published a proposal with the identified sites in 16 neighborhoods in late April for anyone to comment. “No objections or comments were submitted during the discussion,” said deputy mayor Adam Lenert (ANO).
The mayor had previously said that the higher tax would be paid by businesses that cause increased traffic. This concerns both industrial zones in Liberec, large shopping centres such as Nisa, Globus, Makro and Kaufland, garages of the transport company, the former foundry and Kovošrot on the border of Ostašov and Františkov, the packaging plant in Machnín, the brewery in Vratislavice and some industrial companies such as Magna, Benteler, Preciosa, Ferona and Likta. In addition, the town hall wants to use the collected money to repair roads and bridges as a priority.
With the approved general measure, Liberec councillors set the tax for 51 locations at five times the basic tax in the city, while for other companies it will be three times. This is also a new coefficient, but in an amendment to the property tax ordinance, which was also approved by the city councillors today. The mayor said the change is just a formality. If the councillors do not adopt the new ordinance, other businesses in the city would instead see their property tax drop from next year as a result of last year’s amendment to the law, costing the town hall almost 40 million year-on-year. “They will pay the same. The so-called business coefficient has disappeared, but we are replacing it with another one,” the mayor added.
Liberec City Hall was still receiving almost CZK 140 million a year in property tax last year. This year, the city hall expects CZK 100 million more thanks to the government’s consolidation package approved last year. However, even this property tax increase did not fully cover the shortfall in other shared tax revenues, which was also part of the government’s consolidation package. This is what should offset the property tax increase for industrial and commercial areas.
Source: CTK
