Brussels homeowners are set to be hit with record high property taxes this year, as federally-mandated levies coupled with additional fees imposed by local authorities compound the financial misery of residents of the Belgian capital.
Belgium's high inflation rate last year means that the country's inflation-indexed federal property tax will grow by 9.6% this year compared to 2022: an increase previously described as "a historical record" by tax lawyer Aurélien Bortolotti.
In addition to this federally-mandated tax hike, however, Belgium's municipalities have the right to impose further levies on homeowners. According to L'Echo, 13 municipalities across the country have already announced that they will impose additional fees this year. The vast majority of these municipalities are located in Brussels.
In particular, local property taxes in Forest are set to increase by almost 28% this year, while in Anderlecht they will rise by 18%. Ixelles and Molenbeek (16%), Saint-Gilles (13%), and Watermael-Boitsfort and Schaerbeek (10%) have all also announced substantial property tax hikes.
Indeed, the increases are so great that the Brussels tax authority (Bruxelles Fiscalité) recently sent out 400,000 "warnings" to homeowners notifying them about the forthcoming tax hikes to "avoid massive complaints from surprised taxpayers", L'Echo reports.
The steep increase in property taxes inflicts further pain on Belgian homeowners, whose properties are largely declining in real value as nominal house prices fail to keep up with the country's rate of inflation.
