TAXING IMMOVABLE PROPERTY: BASIC FEATURES AND APPLICATION OF IMMOVABLE PROPERTY IN CROATIA AND OTHER EU COUNTRIES

Cilj rada je razmotriti osnovna obilježja poreza na vlasništvo nad nekretninama, analizirati važnost ovog poreznog oblika u poreznim sustavima zemalja članica Europske unije (EU) te dati usporedni prikaz njegove primjene po zemljama članicama EU (EU-28). Također, u radu se razmatraju i efekti uvođenja i primjene ovog poreznog oblika u Hrvatskoj. Provedena analiza ukazuje na značajne razlike u prihodnom potencijalu ovog poreznog oblika između novih zemalja članica (EU-10) i zemalja koje su postale članicama prije 2004. godine (EU-17). Prihodi od periodičkog poreza na nekretnine čine u prosjeku 0,5 posto BDP-a (1,7 posto ukupnih poreznih prihoda) EU- 10, dok na razini EU-17 oni čine 1,0 posto BDP-a (2,5 posto ukupnih poreznih prihoda). Na temelju usporednog pregleda predmeta oporezivanja, načina utvrđivanja porezne osnovice, poreznih stopa te poreznih olakšica i izuzeća po zemljama članicama Europske Unije (uključujući i Hrvatsku), vidljivo je kako je u većini zemalja članica EU porez na nekretnine izvor proračuna lokalnih vlasti koje ujedno određuju i visinu poreza. U radu se zaključuje kako bi prilikom provođenja poreznih reformi koje uključuju i reforme poreza na nekretnine, valjalo voditi računa o specifi čnosti poreznog sustava pojedine zemlje.The aim of this paper is to consider the main features of immovable property tax, the arguments for using real property taxation and to give a survey of recurrent property tax regimes across EU countries. Recent empirical studies have identifi ed taxes on real estate property as least detrimental to GDP growth. In line with these results the Council of Europe invites Member States to review their tax systems, shifting tax intensity from labour taxes towards taxes on consumption and property. However, when interpreting aforementioned results, we should take into account the fact that these fi ndings are based on a sample of OECD countries whose tax systems are traditionally based on the taxation of income, profi ts and property. In contrast, tax structure in Croatia is rather different. Croatian tax system is predominantly based on consumption taxation. The most abundant source of budget revenues is Value Added Tax – VAT which accounts for 60% of total tax revenues of government budget revenues, followed by special taxes and excise (18.3% of total government budget revenues). The one part of the paper is dedicated to the analysis of importance of recurrent tax on real estate property across EU member states. The importance is measured by the share of the revenues of recurrent property taxes in the total governmental revenues and in the GDP. The results of the analysis indicate that there is a signifi cant gap between the new EU countries (EU-10) and the old member states (EU- 17) in terms of recurrent taxes on property in GDP and in total tax revenues. In 2011 the average for EU-10 countries was around 0.5% in GDP (1.7% total tax revenues) vs 2.0 % GDP average for EU-17 countries (2.5% of the total tax revenues). In addition, this paper examines the application of recurrent property tax in the EU Countries. The research leads to the conclusion that in most of the EU member states the recurrent property tax is a local tax and it is typically levied at the sub-central level. On the other hand, objects taxable with recurrent property tax, tax rates, procedure for setting tax rates, tax reliefs and exemptions signifi cantly differ in the EU member states. Each country has a different defi nition of real estate property, different approach on real property value and taxation