Your tax depends on where you live

TAXE D’HABITATION rates vary wildly across France, a new study has revealed.

According to a study of the General Confederation of Housing (CGL), and seen by Le Parisien, Parisians pay an average of €450 in taxe d’habitation, but the average climbs to more than €1,100 in Bordeaux and more than €1,140 in Amiens.

Michel Frechet, president of the CGL, told the newspaper: "Our study confirms the wide disparity in housing tax, depending on the location.”

The money raised in each commune from the tax is used to finance local public services, such as schools and creches, which in part explains the huge differences in payments.

The formula for calculating taxe d’habitation is based on the notional rent that the property might be expected to achieve in the open market, depending on its condition, size and location.

Mr Frechet pointed out that the baseline of this ‘notional rental value’, however, has not been updated since 1970, and - therefore - a tenant in a modern HLM building may well have to pay more than the owner of an old apartment in a Haussmann building in an upscale neighbourhood of Paris.

Trials into revising the theoretical rental values on which local property taxes in France are based are to go ahead from early next year.

This will be the start of a major shake-up of the local taxes – taxe d’habitation and taxe foncière – to come into force for tax bills in autumn 2018.

Mr Frechet added that “there seems to be a strong correlation” between the percentage of social housing and the level of tax.

Those cities that are home to big business can also afford to keep taxe d’habitation levels relatively low, he explained.

Le Parisien has created a tax map, which you can see here .

Taxe d’habitation is similar to council tax in the UK. It is imposed on the occupier of a property in which they were resident on January 1 of each year. Even if the property is a second home, the tax is still payable, provided the property is furnished and habitable.

Reductions to or exemptions may apply to people over a certain age, to students, to people with certain disabilities and to those on low incomes, as long as the property is their main residence.

- Connexion publishes a helpguide to the local property taxes, which can be downloaded here for €7.50