The government is expected to adopt on Thursday the bill introducing the much debated real estate tax. The Finance Ministry has not revealed the exact contents of the bill as talks with different stakeholders were conducted until late on Wednesday.
After the cabinet already debated the bill last week but was unable to adopt it due to the reservations of the Pensioners's Party (DeSUS) about the tax excessively hitting pensioners, the party is expected to back the slightly modified bill reached in agreement with the Pensioners' Association (ZDUS).
ZDUS representatives did not wish to reveal the details of the deal after their Wednesday meeting with PM Alenka Bratušek, but said that they saw no more disagreement with the government and that the new proposal would include solutions protecting those with lowest income.
The basis of the bill is expected to stay mostly unchanged, with the new tax involving almost all real property, according to different tax categories and based on the census-based value estimates in the real estate registry made in 2011 and corrected earlier this month.
The final tax levels are yet unknown, but the latest published versionof the bill envisaged 0.15% for residential housing real estate and 0.50% for non-residential housing units.
However, an agreement was reported to have been reached to reduce the tax base for housing to 80% or 85% of the value instead of the 100% value applicable for other real property.
People unable to pay the tax are to be given a possibility of a tax loan, crediting the debt to the real estate until it is paid by the owner or heirs.
The future of sacral buildings also remains unclear, although the heads of the major religious communities in Slovenia expressed hope after their meeting with the PM late on Wednesday that buildings used for religious activities would be exempt from the tax.
If this is not the case, religious dignitaries said a request for constitutional review was still a possibility.
Source: SloveniaTimes
