Ibrahimaj announced that the time has come for Albania to start the implementation of the property tax reform, which includes the tax for buildings, housing, but also for agricultural, forest land, or for land that is intended for development.

“We propose to shift from a taxation based on reference prices to a taxation that takes into account market prices, which is actually the international practice. On the other hand, the tax must be fair, effective and transparent, but above all it must be simple. Since it is a tax that applies to the entire population of the country, it should be understood by the whole population, simply perceived, simply collected and to that end we want to dive deep into each element of the tax, that is, from the rate to collection, communication strategy,” she said.

The minister explained that this law is intended to establish fairness in taxation. Ibrahimaj emphasized that the incomes from the collection of wealth tax and property tax in Albania account for about 0.3% of the Gross Domestic Product. According to her, this is a very low rate which is attributed to the level of taxation and the form of taxation, but also the level of collection and its administration.

“The average of the countries of the region, but also the average of the countries, according to income categories, is higher than what we collect. The countries of the region have an average of around 0.8% of GDP, while we are at the level of 0.3% of GDP, while OECD countries have 1.1% of GDP, developed countries such as the USA, Canada and UK vary from 2.5 to 3% . So, obviously and clearly, we have a very low level of taxation and collection,” said Ibrahimaj.

“Regarding the tax for the agricultural sector, for agricultural or forest lands, there are some tax breaks applied in the first years of production, to encourage planting, production, the use of property,” emphasized the minister.
/sm/