Construction Minister Branko Bačić said on Thursday the government planned to increase the number of apartments available for rent and reduce house and rent prices in Croatia, where there are 2.38 million apartments, of which 958,000 or 40% are not used for housing purposes.
The planned measures are part of land, tax, financial and environmental policies and their purpose is to put to use housing units that are currently not used for that purpose, the minister, who is also in charge of physical planning and state assets, told reporters after a government session.
A total of 595,000 housing units are empty, and according to data from the national statistical office (DZS) and the HEP power company, 321,000 are used for short-term lease and are not used for housing purposes, with 115,000 being used as office space (law firms, surgeries, hair salons and galleries), according to Bačić.
The minister explained that property tax would not be paid for properties used by their owners for housing purposes or for housing units used for long-term rental, but that it would have to be paid for properties used for short-term rental.
Details of the plan will be fine-tuned by the Finance Ministry, he said.
First property subject to payment of communal charges only
Only communal charges will be levied on the first property, Bačić said, adding that property tax would not be charged for housing units that are not fit for housing purposes because they lack the necessary infrastructure, for example, those that are not connected to the power grid or water supply network and cannot be moved into.
Local government units have the capacity and know the procedure necessary for making decisions on how the real estate tax will be defined and collected, they have that competence based on the previously introduced tax on holiday homes, Bačić said.
He would not speculate about the rate of the new property tax, confirming that certain projections had been made in cooperation with the Finance Ministry but that one more round of price and income analyses was to follow.
The data will be made public once the proposal is entirely defined and put to public consultation, Bačić said.
Top state officials should not be divided into first and second-class officials
Asked about President Zoran Milanović's using the resources of the Defence Ministry and the Croatian Army, Bačić said that he did not know who was benefitting from raising that topic but that there should be no division among the most senior state officials into first and second-class officials.
The transparency that is demanded of government officials and members of the ruling coalition should also be demanded of the President, Bačić said, adding that there should be no problems regarding requests for transparency about all of their activities, rights and obligations.
He said that he could understand that the President's travels of four years ago were classified due to security reasons but that he did not see any reason why the information on his official trips could not be made public eight to 15 days after an official trip for which the resources of the Defence Ministry or the Armed Forces were used.
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