Real estate taxes to increase in most of Prague after long being stagnant

Most Prague districts agreed to an increase the real estate tax coefficient. Some 53 out of a total of 57 districts were in favor of changing the method of determining the amount of tax, according to Deputy Mayor Pavel Vyhnánek (Praha sobě). The four districts not planning an increase were not identified

The city is now
preparing a decree allowing the amount of the coefficient for
calculating the tax to be decided by individual town halls. Real
estate tax is the only tax the city can influence.

“Real estate tax
has not changed in Prague for many years. The approval of the
increase was carried across the political spectrum,” Vyhnánek
said. “The city districts have been calling for the real estate tax
to increase. We decided to meet with them.”

Of the 53 districts planning an increase, 33 intend to set the coefficient higher than the city’s draft decree, and 20 town halls will be satisfied with the proposed height.

In Prague, the local
coefficient is now set at the national lowest possible level of one.

Prague is proposing an increase to level two on a five-point scale. According to the draft decree, the districts would set the size of their coefficient.

The coefficient is
one of the factors used to set the final rate of residential property
tax. Real estate tax consists of a land tax and a tax on buildings
and units.

According to the draft decree, the commercial coefficient, which affects the amount of tax on commercial real estate, will remain at 1.5. The proposed introduction of a local coefficient means this tax will effectively rise as well.

Housing prices in
Prague have been rising sharply, even without property tax increases.
They are the most expensive in the Czech Republic, and, relative to
the average net wage, among the most expensive in Europe.