Paris mayor ‘wants 40% tax hike’

THE MAIRIE of Paris is looking to increase the taxe d’habitation surcharge on second homes which came in this year, because it has not been effective enough in pushing people to sell unoccupied properties to free them up.

Financial magazine Capital, citing sources close to the mairie, said mayor Anne Hidalgo is looking at raising the surcharge to 30-40% instead of the current 20%, the problem being that with Paris’s taxe d’habitation rate being one of the country’s lowest, at 13.38%, increasing it by 20% has not been dissuasive enough.

A source told Capital the measure would be discussed at a budget meeting on Monday – if the Paris city council agrees it will then hold discussions with the government to see if the city may be permitted to put in place an additional hike as part of its budget for next year.

The increase of 20% was part of a nationwide measure aimed at relieving housing pressures, which allowed mairies to raise the tax this year on homes that are not used full-time or rented out.

In total 1,151 communes had the right to apply it, however only 98 did so this year.

Photo: Ignatius Wooster/ fotolia.com