MONEYVOX INFO. These 82 cities and villages where property taxes really drop in 2023

Property tax is increasing everywhere, throughout France. Everything, really? No, 82 towns and villages, out of the nearly 35,000 municipalities in France, are resisting the national trend. Which ones? How do these cities achieve this feat? Is it voluntary?

welcome to Montreuil-en-Auge“small rural town of Calvados “, as Xavier Charles, the mayor of this Normandy village of around sixty inhabitants, defines it unabashedly. A bell tower. Half-timbered facades. Greenery. Nothing like a dormitory town: half the population is of working age. A very agricultural commune. With few public services. For school, the five children of the town head to a neighboring town.

Montreuil-en-Auge stands out in 2023 by the biggest reduction in property taxes. Or more precisely by the sharpest drop in the municipal rate: as in Berlancourt, in Aisne, the rate is halved there. But Montreuil-en-Auge adds two highlights: the rate was already excessively low, now falling to 3.54%, compared to 38.28% on the national average, and this is the 3rd year in a row that the commune has divided its rate by two.

“We have a new influx of rental income. I proposed to the council to return this money to the taxpayer”

How is this feat possible, when testimonies of property tax explosions are flourishing in the media? “We have municipal heritage,” explains Xavier Charles. We have developed this real estate portfolio and now we rent two premises, a house and a studio. This created a new influx of rental income: 10,000 euros more… for a municipal budget of around 20,000 euros. These new revenues created a budget surplus. I proposed to the council to return this money to the taxpayer. »

The mayor of Montreuil-en-Auge, however, wants to avoid any political exploitation or any promotion, in a very tense context around this local tax: “Be careful, we are not looking to advertise ourselves. I’m not here to teach other mayors a lesson! »

TESTIMONIALS. “A reduction of 30 to 1,000 euros in tax”… These 5 mayors explain how and why they reduced property tax in 2023

82 municipalities where the tax sheet will not increase in 2023

At the end of August, to clear up this sensitive subject, while household portfolios are being undermined by inflation, the General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFiP) chose to implement transparency by publishing a loads of figures on local taxation.

Surprise ! Yes, taxes are, in fact, increasing in the vast majority of municipalities, but only 14% of cities have voted to increase the municipal rate, the only lever in the hand of your mayor. Nearly 85% of the 34,808 municipalities have chosen stability… but your tax still increases by more than 7%.. For what ? Because inflation automatically increases the cadastral rental values, the basis for calculating your tax.

463 municipalities have decided to lower their municipal rate. Enough to reverse the trend? No. In Brest (-0.99%) in Finistère, in Raincy (-0.32%) in Seine-Saint-Denis, in Castres (-1%) in Tarn, in Orange (-0.25%) in Vaucluse or Aubin (-6.18%) in Aveyron, these reductions in municipal rates are insufficient in the face of the national increase (+7.1% based on the calculation) to avoid an increase in your bill.

The MoneyVox editorial staff dug into the public data of the DGFiP, for a result: this year 82 municipalities lowered their rate by more than 10% compared to 2022, which effectively allows their resident owners to reduce the tax payable this fall.

These mayors who chose to compensate for the national increase

” We realised a simulation to compensate for the increase in state. On average, this amounts to 30 euros less than last year on property tax notices! According to the first feedback, we were not mistaken,” testifies for example Fabrice Zuccarelli, mayor of Mézy-sur-Seine, in Yvelines, where the drop in the rate is around 11%. “I requested a simulation from the DGFiP in order to lower the municipal rate so that the tax does not increase in 2023 despite the national increase”, specifies Christine Monlezun, town hall of Fréchendets, where the rate has decreased by 12% .

Mézy-sur-Seine: “On average, 30 euros less than last year on property tax notices! »

A common point among these 82 municipalities where the property tax really drops in 2023? Not really… apart from the fact that they are almost exclusively small towns or municipalities, such as Bussy-Saint-Georges in the Paris region or Grigny in the Lyon metropolitan area.

A political affiliation? Clearly not. Impossible to politicize the decision of these 82 municipalities: there are a handful of LR mayors, from “various right(s)” or small parties, from “various left(s)”… but above all an immense majority of mayors without no political label! And a big density in the Gerswhich is explained by an old departmental rate having reached peaks in the past.

Have these 82 municipalities found a magic formula?

“In a context of overhaul of local taxation, [les taxes foncières] are today one of the last fiscal levers for communities which can act on the tax revenue by modifying the rates”, wrote the Court of Auditors a few months ago, referring to the recent abolition of the housing tax , transformed into a tax weighing only on second homes. The argument of the disappearance of the housing tax is repeated over and over again by the municipalities which have chosen to increase their rate of municipal property tax, the only room for maneuver – on the revenue side – for mayors on the budget of their municipality …

A justified argument? “The loss of housing tax has been compensated! » cuts public finance specialist François Ecalle. So, could the reductions achieved in the 82 municipalities listed below be duplicated elsewhere in France? Not really : ” These are probably small municipalities that had an investment program, with a high tax to carry out a one-off project., continues François Ecalle. And they lower it once the project is finalized. Or all of a sudden, they have a new resource, for example a factory being set up, their bases increase and they can lower rates. » If he believes that large cities could reduce certain costs… he judges the reality of these small towns to be very difficult to replicate elsewhere. Case by case.

Increase in property tax 2023: “The problem is that it is the only lever for municipalities”