Development of Immovable Property Tax in Latvia

Abstract

Immovable property tax is one of the national taxes the administration of which is subjected to continuous changes. Frequent amendments to the law “On Immovable Property Tax” (1997) also evidence the mentioned changes. The procedure for tax calculation, tax base, and tax rates has been considerably changed in the course of time. The research provides a discussion on the changes in tax formation, development, and administration in Latvia to understand better the essence of immovable property tax. The research aim was to analyse the development of immovable property tax and the course of reforms for the period of 1998-2012. The research also studies the expected changes in the application of immovable property tax from the year 2013. It is envisaged to transfer the rights to local governments to determine the immovable property tax rates in their administrative territories within the range of 0.2-3% from 2013. The research concludes that frequent reforms of immovable property tax have promoted the development of a new, stable, and predictable methodology for the future application of immovable property tax in Latvia. The analysis of revenues from immovable property tax for the period of 2006-2011 is based on the annually growing significance of immovable property tax. The research suggests that immovable property tax is the only tax the revenues of which have increased within the period of 2009-2011 and the largest revenues from immovable property tax are collected in Riga City municipality comprising 53% of the total revenues from immovable property tax collected in Latvia.