Major consumer group starts petition against IBI property tax rises
Saturday, November 23, 2013 @ 10:14 PM
A LEADING consumer organisation has started a petition to try to stop the constant rise in IBI property tax.
They say homeowners are becoming 'victims of an out-of-proportion money-grabbing exercise' with rates having risen by an average of 60 per cent since 2008, whilst residents' salaries have either stayed the same or gone down.
The organisation, OCU, is calling for the government to call off its plans to increase IBI again in 2014.
Whilst property values have fallen by between 30 and 50 per cent in the last five years and residents' wealth has been 'continually declining' over the same period, some towns have increased property tax by up to 100 per cent.
According to the OCU, the 'brutal' hikes in IBI are a result of a series of catastral reviews – a revision of the land value upon which taxes are calculated – increases in the base rate, scrapping of discounts for certain sectors of society, rises in interest for late payment, and the government's decision to apply an ongoing increase from 2012 onwards for several years.
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