Een analyse van de relatie tussen KI en woning-prijzen in de Vlaamse centrumsteden

In Belgium property taxes are based on the assessed rental value of a property. This value, the so-called cadastral revenue, is entrenched -but not undisputed- in our tax policy. Due to the rigid and outdated character of this tax base, a growing sense of unfairness surrounds the derived property tax (oov). This paper uncovers the relationship between the cadastral revenue and the selling price of houses in Flanders, focusing on the centre cities. Special attention is paid to the demand for horizontal equity, implying that equal positions lead to equal taxation. The data show a clear linear relation between the cadastral revenue and the sell-ing price, with slightly higher cadastral revenues for similar-priced houses in the centre cities. Further analysis, however, unveils a wide spread in cadastral revenues for equivalent properties. Moreover, the fiscal favor treatment “Klein Beschrijf” is poorly linked to the value of a property, discriminating between equivalent properties. Consequently, it is obvious that the cadastral revenue fails the horizontal equity test and needs far-reaching revisions