Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte has welcomed the finance minister’s proposal to introduce a universal real estate tax from next year.
“The proposal could provide for a possibility to introduce a normal European real estate tax in Lithuania. Its rate, its objects and so on and so forth. The law would outline a framework but that would fully be a municipal tax,” she told reporters.
The existing regulation did not match the purpose of a real estate tax, Simonyte said.
“Now there is a so-called luxury tax, and its existing thresholds are disputable,” she said.
“It is more related to luxury or the way it is seen,” Simonyte said, adding that the application of the future real estate tax and its exemptions could be left to local governments.
Finance Minister Gintare Skaiste proposed to introduce a universal real estate tax from 2022. The tax rate would be largely symbolic, of 10-12 euros per year, she said. The current real estate tax is only applied to properties worth more than 150,000 euros in total. (LRT/Business World Magazine)
