Local taxes may rise due to loans
LOCAL taxes may have to rise in many councils to repay soaring costs of what newspaper Libération calling “toxic loan”.
The paper said it had seen documents showing thousands of councils could face “ruin” due to loans taken out with public finance specialists Dexia. These were linked to currencies such as the Swiss franc which has soared in value, meaning surcoûts [extra costs] could add 20% to repayments. It published a map (www.tinyurl.com/toxicloans) of bodies it claims are affected.
The Association des Mairies de France said many councils had such loans but added: “They are not all necessarily ‘toxic’ or at risk of causing bankruptcy. In any case, there are always recovery measures: increasing taxes, finding new income, reducing investments.”
One Normandy council, at Notre-Damede-Gravenchon, was said by Libération to face surcoûts of 57% and finance spokesman Christian Maurice said they acted on bank advice. “We trusted them; however, they had their ‘banker’ hat on not their ‘advisor’ one.” He said they could afford economies.
* Taxe d’habitation and taxe foncière bills go out shortly, payable by mid-November. The new Connexion local tax helpguide (available on our website) explains the calculations and what exemptions are available.
