Wallonia’s Socialist Party will on Monday table two bills aimed at increasing property tax rebates for families and disabled dependants, while making sure eligible tenants receive the support due to them.
The proposals, to be defended in committee by parliamentarians Laurent Devin and Özlem Özen, come as property tax bills continue to rise in Wallonia.
A household with dependent children or disabled dependants, can currently receive property-tax rebates of €125 per child and €250 per disabled dependant, the PS noted in a statement.
Tax bill rises, rebate stays the same
Those amounts were set in 2004 and have never been updated, the party said, whereas the cadastral income used to calculate the tax is indexed every year.
This means the tax bill rises while the rebate remains unchanged.
The PS says the gap must now be closed and the system must be adjusted automatically in future.
As a first step, it is proposing an immediate 20% increase, which would raise the rebates to €150 per child and €300 per disabled dependent.
After that, the rebates would be automatically indexed each year, in line with the tax itself, to prevent the gap from recurring.
Pay the rebate directly to the renter - PS
The party also wants to change the way the rebate is applied for tenants who are entitled to it.
At present, the reduction is granted to the landlord through the property tax bill, and the tenant must then deduct the amount from the rent.
The PS says it is unclear how many tenants are affected, as no statistics exist. It also says the Walloon administration has acknowledged it cannot intervene when the rebate is not passed on.
To address that, the party proposes that the regional administration pay the rebate directly to eligible tenants.
Increasing the rebates would cost some €5.7 million
According to the PS, that would mean tenants no longer have to claim the money themselves, landlords would have no further administrative steps to take, and one source of disputes would be removed.
The party estimates that increasing the rebates would cost around €5.7 million.
It says that amount could be financed by tightening the conditions for access to the 3% registration duty rate, in order to limit windfall effects.
The direct payment to tenants, it adds, would not create any new form of support.
The two draft texts, which the PS says are ready and fully funded, will be discussed on Monday by the Walloon Parliament’s General Affairs and Budget Committee.
