2024-05-14 10:44:05
There will be no more discounts for agricultural areas
At the March meeting of the district council, the last resident of Kedai managed to protect his wallet from being emptied by taking advantage of an exemption that allows him to be exempted from the infrastructure tax.
Kėdainiai district week, Surviliškios sen., Kalnaberžės village. planning to build a farm building with an area of almost 18 thousand sq. m, the native would have had to pay almost 7 thousand. infrastructure tax amounting to EUR.
However, there was a condition in the regulations that the payer of the municipal development fee, who builds structures on agricultural land plots, the methods of use of which are other agricultural land plots and land plots of specialized horticulture, floriculture, greenhouses, nurseries and other specialized farms in the territory of the 4th tariff, may be exempted from infrastructure tax.
Based on this condition, the person was exempted from the tax, but he is the last lucky person who could use it, because the district council already canceled this exemption in another decision.
As the member of the district council Dangiras Kačinskas said, such a decision was a step towards justice, because the last few meetings of the council dealt with issues in which farmers kept asking to be exempted from the infrastructure tax.
“I am very pleased that we have been patient and consistent and a little justice has been restored – the flawed exception will no longer apply.
We will no longer consider such issues before and we will no longer need to abstain from voting,” said the politician.
Reduced infrastructure tax rates
Another decision made will be at least a little more favorable for residents and businesses building houses – the contribution rates have been slightly reduced, so the total amount that will have to be paid will bite a little less.
It is true that not all tariffs are decreasing – only in the most expensive tariff areas 3 and 4.
In the territory of tariff 3, the price per square meter was 10 euros, now it has decreased to 7 euros. Meanwhile, in tariff area 4, the rate was 20 euros and was halved to 10 euros.
True, whether this will change the situation very drastically is a big question. It seems that the infrastructure tax rate of 10 or 20 euros per square meter will not bring any real benefit to the municipality. Even lower tariffs will not bring any benefits.
“In order for the tax collected to cover the costs of infrastructure development, it should reach at least 100 euros per square meter. But we understand that it affects residents and businessmen, that’s why we chose a gentle way, when the tariffs are not high, and Kėdainiai would remain competitive compared to other neighboring districts”, said Gintautas Muznikas, the current director of the municipality’s administration, who previously held the position of deputy director of the municipality’s administration. He also added at that time that the municipality could prepare only a few projects for such money, but real works could not be carried out for that much money.
So, why is it necessary to leave those rates as they are, which, after summing up the square footage of the house under construction or renovation, turns into a really considerable amount of money for one person, is not clear.
As D. Kačinskas pointed out, both the members of the Kėdainiai branch of the Kaunas Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Crafts and the residents say that it would be best if the rate were symbolic and reached one euro, as, by the way, is the case in some other municipalities.
“The central government sometimes adopts such laws that do not suit the regions at all. All these tax exemptions clearly show that this law is completely unsuitable for the regions. A symbolic fee of one euro was proposed, but this proposal was not supported.
And although the reduced taxes are a step forward, I think that it will be necessary to take another step so that in the end everything is as it should be”, said D. Kačinskas.
However, why that step is not taken and why the authorities of the district do not remove the burden of the tax from the shoulders of the people and make the tax only symbolic, although they have such an opportunity, unfortunately, no one even explains.
2024-05-14 10:44:05