Development of property taxation in some post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

Introduction. According to the National Revenue Strategy until 2030, the development of property taxation in Ukraine should be carried out by switching from property taxation based on the area of real estate to taxation based on its market value in order to increase local budget revenues and improve taxation fairness. Problem Statement. The introduction of taxation of real estate in Ukraine based on its value, which is a difficult task involving painstaking preparatory work and significant financial resources, requires an analysis of the experience of implementing similar transformations in other countries. At the same time, the development of property taxation in the post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe (hereinafter CEE), some of which still tax real estate by area, while others immediately introduced a tax by value, is of greatest interest. The purpose of the article is to determine, based on the analysis of property taxation experience in selected CEE countries, the prerequisites and ways of transition from a tax based on area to a tax based on value. The methods of systemic, structural-functional, comparative analysis, analogies and theoretical generalization are used. Results. The article analyzes the development of property taxation in two CEE countries (Poland and Slovakia), where, like in Ukraine, the basis for recurrent taxes on real estate is its area, and three Baltic countries where ad valorem real estate taxes have been introduced. The author focuses on the prerequisites and features of their introduction, the design of taxes in individual countries, peculiarities of their administration and prospects for reform. The author draws conclusions about the common and specific reasons for delaying the introduction of ad valorem tax in countries where it is based on real estate area. The author identifies the necessary measures and reveals the problems on the way to introduction of the ad valorem real estate tax related to the creation of a sufficiently complete and reliable database on real estate and its market value and keeping it up to date, gradual introduction of mass assessment of land and property, limited administrative capacity, little experience and insufficient resources of local authorities to entrust them with the function of property tax administration.