House Tax of the Neighborhood of Songshan Airport Affected by Aircraft Noises has been Reduced via Downgrading the Location Rate, TCG will Continue Trying for More Subsidies from the Central Government.
Considering the aircraft noises affect the residents neighboring the Taipei Songshan Airport, the Taipei City 2023 Real Estate Assessment Committee had approved the proposal to downgrade the location rate by 1 level for houses located at the class 3 aircraft noise control zones, which was based on the proposal of the city councilors and had got it for future reference by Taipei City Council through the plenary meeting. The revision had been implemented on July 1, 2023, including those sections already been downgraded, A total of 60 road sections were adjusted, benefiting approximately 28,000 households, and will affect the house tax levied in May 2024. Department of Finance (DOF) of the Taipei City Government (TCG) indicates that the Ministry of Finance had expressly stipulated that the tax concession about houses neighboring the Taoyuan International Airport to levy the house tax by 70% of the current value of the house is inconsistent with the law, so the TCG cannot implement. Also considering that most road sections’ location rate of houses neighboring Songshan Airport aircraft noise control area has not been adjusted for more than 25 years since 1997, Taipei City Revenue Service commissioned a professional academic research team, by using assessment ratio, coefficient of dispersion (COD) and price-related differences (PRD) to calculate and analyze the assessment as the valuation consistency and fairness measurement indexes, found that the real tax rate was between 0.0812% and 0.1488%, which is lower than that in other districts between 0.0973% to 0.2215%. The location rate is based on the commercial and transportation situations where the housing is located, and the supply and demand of housing, which will affect the current value of the house. In addition to serving as the basis for house tax, the current value of the house is also the basis for deed tax, gift tax, inheritance tax, income tax on the proceeds of property transactions or real estate transactions, and the general rental standard of the local community, which involves a wide range of aspects. DOF further explained that the Songshan Airpor is subordinated to the central government, according to Article 4, Subparagraph 2 of “The Regulations on Allocation and Usage of Noise Charges of State-owned Airport Terminals”, the central government has the legal resources to subsidize the house tax and land value tax of the households affected by the aircraft noises, but there are no such subsidies, and no plan for subsidizing the local tax. In order to protect the rights of the households housing neighboring Songshan Airport, the TCG had sent a letter to the central government on November 21, 2023, to try for more subsidies. Mayor Chiang Wan-An had made a promise in the council chamber to review the case of discounting current value of the house neighboring Taoyuan International Airport within three months. Also, DOF will continue to conduct a comprehensive review and carefully assess the feasibility of further house tax concessions.