Centre Party rejects Reform’s plea to lower the land tax
29.10.2008, 10:41Tallinn City Government has rejected
appeals to lower its land tax rate which it increased 1.5 times in December,
writes Eesti Päevaleht.
Reform Party is demanding that the Centre Party-led Tallinn City Government
cuts the land tax rate in Tallinn fivefold from 1.5 percent to 0.3 percent.
The City Government said yesterday that it is not going to support the
request in its tomorrow session because it would make an EEK 250 million hole in
the city’s budget.
In August Paap Kõlar, a famous Estonian rock musician and owner of a
kiteboarding club, lost his court claim against the City of Tallinn that under
new tax rates was claiming from him EEK 11,000 in land tax for his property in
Nõmme in Tallinn.
Kõlar said that the tax claim was unconstitutional and that the City should
not tax land that belongs to the person’s home. In addition, Kõlar claimed that
City of Tallinn’s decree to increase land tax rate 1.5 times last December was
excessive.
However, the court found that Kõlar’s claim was not substantiated. „Among
others, the court cannot rule whether a tax rate is excessive or not. We did not
find out that the tax in question was excessive for Paap Kõlar,” said a court
spokesperson.
Taavi Madiberk, general secretary of the Estonian Association of Homeowners
EOKL, said that the association is definitely going to appeal against the
ruling. „We represent also homeowners who are in the middle classes and who have
been forced to give up their home because they cannot pay the land tax,” he
said.