The government is currently working on a plan for the taxation of agricultural land outside city planning zones, with the Ministry of Finances racing to determine appropriate objective values.
The Deputy Minister of Finances Giorgos Mavraganis and General Secretary of Public Finances Haris Theoharis met with New Democracy MP Apostolos Vesyropoulos, PASOK representative Andreas Makrypidis and DIMAR representative Dimitris Hatzisokratis and decided to tax land outside city planning zones and land for agricultural use according to the number of acres rather than value.
The government will work on defining a number of non-contestable factors determining the value, such as proximity to high ways, the coast, whether it is arable or not etc. For example, land in coastal areas with significant tourism or mountainous areas suitable for winter sports will have a greater value per acre. In cases as such the tax could be 20, 30 or even 50 euros per acre. Land that is on ridges and remote areas will be taxed on average12 euros per acre.
A major issue is that many of the plots of land are not registered. At present there are about 66.5 million acres registered, with the government hoping to generate 800 million euros. Should an extra 15 million acres be registered, the government could then reduce the average tax per acre to under 10 euros. For that purpose, the Ministry of Finances will allow taxpayers one “last opportunity” to amend their tax declarations.
Land within city plans
Regarding the taxation of land within city plans, the Ministry of Finances has not yet decided if there will be a 50,000 euro tax-free threshold, as requested by PASOK and DIMAR. The Ministry has to collect about 3.1 billion euros, of which 1.7 billion will come from urban real estate, 800 million from agricultural land and 600 million from church and businesses
