Municipal tax
Local tax levied by the municipality, including surcharges on property tax.
Full definition
Municipal taxes are the local taxes levied by Belgian municipalities. For an owner, the main one is the surcharge on property withholding tax: each municipality votes a number of surcharge points applied to the regional base rate. With 3,000 points, for example, the municipality levies thirty times the base tax. Because this number varies widely between municipalities, two homes with the same cadastral income can pay very different amounts. Municipalities also levy a surcharge on personal income tax, and often their own taxes on empty buildings, second homes or undeveloped land. The choice of municipality therefore directly affects the annual cost of owning a property.