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UNMIK/PR/645 IAC Endorses draft Regulation on Property Tax pilot
program IAC members will continue to study other draft regulations presented today--on regulating the insurance industry and on technical amendments to regulation establishing the Banking and Payments Authority which would allow it to undertake responsibilities under the draft insurance regulation. "The topics of the meeting, while complicated, are very important for Kosovo's future," said PDSRSG Gary Matthews, who chaired today's meeting. The Kosovo Consolidated Budget document for 2001 stipulated that DM 6 million in municipal revenues should come from property taxes, that is taxes on land and buildings. The aim is to give greater responsibility and accountability to municipalities. "In order to develop property tax in municipalities that have the necessary information available and capability to assess and collect this tax, we need to run pilot programs prior to the final version of the tax being enacted," said Central Fiscal Authority co-head Tony Preston-Stanley. "This is a normal course undertaken in many transition countries that have introduced property tax." The draft regulation endorsed today establishes a set of criteria and general rules for running the property tax pilot program. Municipal assemblies will have the flexibility to set their own rates according to the needs and wishes of the community. The CFA will administer the criteria and closely monitor the pilot program, together with the Department for Local Administration. Based on the experience with the pilot programs, the CFA will then prepare a draft regulation for the main property taxation. The CFA will certify municipalities to participate in the pilot program, and those communities will then move to compliance with the main property tax regulation. Mr. Matthews also noted that police have arrested all suspects in the case of the recent murder of Kosovo Police Service officer Laxim Rexhepi and the shooting of his colleague Avdullah Musliu near Gnjilane last week during a cattle theft. "This is first-class work by the KPS," Matthews said. .
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