Property tax has become the norm in Norwegian municipalities
Municipal property tax generated revenue of NOK 12.3 billion last year, writes Finansavisen, and refers to figures from Statistics Norway (SSB).
NOK 6.3 billion, ie just over half, is down to taxation of homes and cabins. In 2007, the share was 38 percent.
Normal State
The tax that for several hundreds of years was a taxation on commercial properties (farms and industrial properties), has in the past decade developed into a general tax on housing and cabins.
From 2017, municipalities are allowed to exempt cabins from property taxes , but according to the newspaper, only five of 282 municipalities who has taxation on properties on housing employ such an exemption.
Figures from Statistics Norway (SSB) also show that the number of municipalities who has introduced a property tax grew from 365 to 366 last year. In practice many years of growth has therefore come to a standstill.
Property tax has become the norm for Norwegian municipalities, Finansavisen writes, adding that only one thing can lower the number of municipalities with property taxes: municipality mergers.
Bergen rakes in the most in property tax
The municipality with the highest total gross tax revenues from properties is Bergen, which, according to Statistics Norway, raked in NOK 768.3 million in 2016.
Trondheim came second at NOK 599.7 million, while Oslo was down in 5th place with NOK 254 million.
It will change this year, as the Oslo rate is increased from two to three per mille. According to Finansavisen, this probably means that the capital overtakes Trondheim.
Noteworthy is that all the top three municipalities are presently governed by the Labour party.
© finansavisen / Norway Today
