Garage and parking taxes face new valuation rules
The government led by Vasile Tofan is moving to revise the taxation of garages and parking spaces, following earlier decisions to transfer state property into private hands. The Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre has begun reviewing the valuation coefficients used to calculate garage and parking taxes.
Officials say some of the existing coefficients no longer reflect actual market values. Problems have reportedly been identified in Chișinău, Bălți and Criuleni, prompting the authorities to revise the coefficients linked to the locality and its property-value zone.
The authorities have not explained why the coefficients are considered inadequate now when they were previously accepted. The changes will affect privately owned garages, garages in cooperatives and parking spaces attached to residential buildings.
The Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre argues that the new system should make valuations more accurate and transparent and bring them closer to market prices. For property owners, however, bringing taxable values closer to market levels is likely to mean higher garage and parking taxes in at least some areas.
At the same time, the authorities are preparing to abolish the minimum property tax rate. A draft law is already under consideration in Parliament. The current minimum is 0.05%, while in Chișinău the rate stands at 0.185%.
If the minimum rate is removed, local authorities will receive greater freedom to set property taxes themselves. Municipal administrations have long sought more room to increase local revenues, and the latest changes would give them a broader legal basis to do so.
For motorists already dealing with high fuel costs, higher taxation of garages and parking spaces would add another expense to car ownership. At this rate, bicycles may begin to look less like an environmental choice and more like a financial necessity.
Local authorities will decide the final rates
The revised coefficients have already been prepared, but the actual garage and parking taxes will be determined by local authorities. Each municipality or district will therefore decide how much owners will ultimately pay for garages and parking spaces.
In theory, local administrations could introduce exemptions or reduced rates. In practice, with the country facing a budget deficit of 76 billion lei, there may be little appetite for concessions that reduce local revenue.
The result is another potential increase in household costs at a time when Moldovans are repeatedly being asked to economise. The authorities describe the changes as an effort to make taxation more accurate, while for garage and parking owners the practical outcome may simply be another larger bill.
