A warning first. For owners who have not seen or received it, your property tax notice has been available for consultation since the end of August. And could reserve you some bad surprises… As for the inhabitants of Marseilles, Tours, Strasbourg and Nantes, four cities where this tax has soared in one year. Respectively 16.5%, 15.3%, 12.6% and 11.5% according to figures from the National Union of Property Owners (UNPI).
The fault, quite simply, with inflation? “Not only”, replies Christophe Demerson. The president of the UNPI is particularly upset in the face of such increases, decided by the State and local authorities. At national level first, an unprecedented 3.4% increase in the harmonized consumer price index was adopted. “But this HICP, with a complex calculation, was adopted last November for the 2021 property tax, when prices had not soared that much! So what will it be next year? asks the leader falsely, even more disillusioned with the behavior of certain towns and cities.
Because it is especially at this level that the increases are most felt for taxpayers. The Eurometropolis of Strasbourg, for example, decided to quadruple (from 1.15 to 4.60%) its rate when the town hall of Marseille voted a 14% increase in its rate. Two extreme examples but confirming a trend. This year, 29% of the 40 cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants have increased their shares in this famous local tax. Against 10% a year earlier and none in 2019 and 2020, according to data collected by the FSL firm.
“An average increase of 1.5%” out of 182 cities
“Of the 182 cities with more than 40,000 inhabitants, this corresponds to an average increase of 1.5%. There is therefore no explosion of the property tax overall”, nuance Jérôme Barberet, director of studies at FSL. “These increases even happen regularly at the start of their mandate, when the new teams are setting up their project. Election years, generally, it does not move too much! »
However, the specialist acknowledges that the current trend could continue in the coming years. “Because with the gradual abolition of the housing tax (which will concern all French people in 2023), communities lack clarity. So could tend to fall back on the other main local tax…
“We are not cash cows”
“Before, we also asked tenants for money, but this is no longer the case. So we fall back on the owners! “, plague Christophe Demerson. “But we are not cash cows”, outbids Gérard Weber, the president of the Trade Union Chamber of Property and Co-ownership (CSPI) of Bas-Rhin. “Rentier owners like in the 19th century no longer exist. It’s a cliché to think that everyone is filling their pockets. Without thinking of those who are simply occupants of their homes. »
The two plead for “a mechanism to regulate the property tax”. “As for the rents which cannot be increased anyhow,” compares the president of the UNPI, fearing the worst for the next few years. “We have the impression that it is not the same inflation for everyone…”
In the meantime, in Marseille, a group is already challenging the current increase. No less than 250 owners have decided to challenge this decision before the administrative court. “It’s a spectacular increase, totally delusional”, justifies their lawyer, Me Jacques Gobert. “It was also mentioned under illegal conditions, since it was considered in February, well before the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis. Finally, it is an increase that will hit the Marseilles population hard. In Marseille, we have 175,000 owners. Of these 175,000, 14,000 are poor within the meaning of INSEE, that is to say they have a reference tax income of less than 13,200 euros per year. This increase will cause an impoverishment in addition to a large part of these people, especially since there is no great property fortune in Marseilles as in Paris. »
Last year, 32 million owner households were liable for property tax, which collected 27.3 billion euros.