Senate voted to increase property taxes by 50%

On Wednesday, the senators adopted, with 67 votes for and 37 against, the amendments to ordinance 16/2022 by which the tax scale for residential buildings owned by individuals was increased by up to 50%. The vote in the Senate takes place in the context in which the mayors expressed their disagreement for the increase.

The law passed by 67 votes in favour, 37 against and 1 abstention. The ordinance 16/2022 has been tabled to amend the Fiscal Code.

According to an amendment introduced by PSD senator Radu Oprea and supported by members of the PSD-PNL-UDMR coalition, the tax grid for residential buildings owned by public persons will be increased by up to 50%. It should be noted that the margin in which local land and real estate taxes can be set has remained the same, 0.08 – 0.2%.

The leader of the PSD senators, Radu Oprea, explained that it depends on the decision of the local councils whether the building tax will increase or decrease.

The changes made by the PSD-PNL-UDMR are not accepted by the mayors who complain that the increase in taxes will create problems with those who have to give them their votes in the upcoming elections.

Updating building taxes to the market value is required by the European Commission and it is also a milestone in the National Recovery and Reselience Plan PNRR.

The draft approval of ordinance 16/2022 in the version amended by the Senate will go to the Chamber of Deputies for debate, which is also the decision-making forum in this case.