Municipalities, which must in particular face the increase in energy prices, do not have many other levers to increase their revenue.
by Benoît Floc ‘h
Are we on the eve of an outbreak of the property tax? The announcement, by Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris, on November 7, of an increase of almost 50 % of local tax in the capital, which will drop from 13.5 % to 20.5 % in 2023, A It is a sensation, and animated the municipal council of the capital, in recent days. M Me hidalgo had previously promised not to increase taxes.
Is this decision isolated or will other cities follow? In fact, this tax paid by the owners of a property and assigned to the municipalities, has already increased significantly in 2022.
The first part of the increase (seat on inflation) corresponds to an automatic revaluation of 3.4 %, the “highest revaluation since 1989”, assured the National Union of Real Estate Owners (UNPI), mid-October. The second part (communities can modify this rate) “jumped: + 1.3 % in 2022”, still according to UNPI. Some cases caught attention, such as Poissy (+ 23.9 %), Mantes-la-Jolie (+ 22.2 %) or Martigues (+ 19 %), Marseille (+ 16.3 %) or Tours (+ 16 %). “Minority” cases, however, says Antoine Homé, co -president of the finance committee of the Association of Mayors of France.
For 2023, inflation obliges, mechanical revaluation should be “from 6 % to 7 %, which would represent 3 billion euros”, specifies Floriane Boulay, director general of intercommunalities of France (the association of a thousand groups of municipalities). The final figure will be known in December.
As for the choice of mayors, if Paris has already made its arbitration known, it can wait until the adoption of municipal budgets, in the spring. In Grenoble, the increase could be between 15 % and 25 %, has already let the city filter. But investments linked to the ecological transition mean that “there is chances, in fact, that it continues to increase”, estimates M me boulay.
les les les les les les les les les “completely crazy” energy price
“The immensity of mayors have not made a decision, because they are in the fog”, notes Antoine Homé. They are waiting in particular to know if the European Union will agree to regulate energy prices. “But if the fundamentals do not change by the spring,” continues the mayor of Wittenheim (Haut-Rhin), this can force mayors to act on taxation. “
The energy prices that have become “completely crazy”, gets carried away Mr. Homé, “it is a calamity that falls on communities”. And there are other charges, such as the general increase in civil servants decided by the government, the interest rates that go up. So, increasing the property tax might seem inevitable to many mayors.
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