Section I: General provisions

I. - 1. Subject to the provisions of Articles 1636 B septies and 1636 B decies municipal councils and the deliberative bodies of inter-municipal cooperation bodies with their own tax system vote each year on the rates of property tax, property tax, council tax on second homes and other furnished premises not used as a main residence and business property tax. They may:

a) Either vary the rates of the four taxes applied the previous year in the same proportion;

b) Or freely vary the rates of the four taxes between them. In this case:

1° The rate of business property tax and the rate of council tax on second homes and other furnished premises not allocated to the principal dwelling :

- may not, in relation to the previous year, be increased by more than the increase in the rate of property tax on built-up properties or, if less, that of the average rate of property taxes, weighted by the relative size of the bases of these two taxes for the tax year ;

- or must be reduced, compared with the previous year, in a proportion at least equal either to the reduction in the rate of property tax on built-up properties or to that of the weighted average rate of property taxes, or to the greater of these reductions when these two rates are falling;

2° The rate of property tax on non-built-up properties may not increase more or decrease less than the rate of property tax on built-up properties.

2. However, the rate of property tax on built-up properties or the rate of property tax on non-built-up properties may be reduced up to the level of the average national rate of the tax recorded in the previous year for, as the case may be, the municipalities and their public establishments for inter-municipal cooperation, or, if higher, up to the level of the rate of the business property tax for the local authority or public establishment for inter-municipal cooperation concerned without these reductions being taken into account for the application, downwards, of the provisions of b of 1.

For the application of the provisions of the first paragraph to communes that are members of public establishments for inter-communal cooperation with or without their own tax system, the communal rates for property taxes and the business property tax are increased by the rates of these public establishments for inter-communal cooperation for the year preceding the year of taxation.

When, in respect of a year, the provisions of the first paragraph are applied, the upward variation in the rate of property tax on built-up properties or the average rate of property taxes to be taken into account, for the application of 1, to determine the rate of business property tax or the rate of property tax on non-built-up properties, is reduced by half over the following three years.

When, in respect of a year, the rate of business property tax or the rate of property tax on non-built-up properties has been increased under these conditions, the first paragraph may not be applied for the following three years.

3. For local authorities, when the rate of business property tax thus determined is lower than the average recorded for this tax the previous year in all local authorities of the same type, it may be increased by a maximum of 5% of this average without being able to exceed it. This increase does not apply when the weighted average rate of the property taxes levied for the benefit of the local authority in question is lower than the weighted average rate recorded the previous year for these two taxes in all local authorities of the same type.

4. (Repealed)

5. The deliberative body of a public inter-municipal cooperation establishment applying article 1609 nonies C and whose business property tax rate is less than 75% of the average for public inter-municipal cooperation establishments in its category applying the same article 1609 nonies C, as recorded the previous year at national level, may set the business property tax rate within this limit, without the increase in the rate being more than 5%.

I bis. - 1. In municipalities where the business property tax rate or bases were zero the previous year, the municipal council may set the rate of this tax. However, the ratio between the rate thus voted and the average rate recorded for the business property tax the previous year in all the municipalities must not exceed the ratio between, on the one hand, the average rate of property taxes, weighted by the relative size of the bases of these two taxes in the municipality for the tax year, and, on the other hand, the weighted average rate of these two taxes recorded the previous year in all the municipalities.

In communes where the rate or the bases of the council tax on second homes and other furnished premises not allocated to the principal dwelling were zero the previous year, the municipal council may set the rate of this tax, under the conditions provided for in the first paragraph of this 1.

2. In public establishments of inter-municipal cooperation with additional own taxation where the rate of the business property tax was zero the previous year, the deliberative body of the public establishment of inter-municipal cooperation may set the rate of this tax. However, the ratio between the rate thus voted and the average rate recorded for the business property tax for the previous year in all the municipalities that are members of the public establishment for inter-municipal cooperation must not exceed the ratio between, on the one hand, the average rate for property taxes, weighted by the relative size of the bases of these two taxes in the public establishment of inter-municipal cooperation for the year of taxation, and, on the other hand, the weighted average rate of these two taxes recorded in the previous year in all the communes that are members of the public establishment.

In public establishments of inter-municipal cooperation with additional own taxation where the rate of council tax on secondary residences and other furnished premises not allocated to the principal dwelling was zero the previous year, the deliberative body of the public establishment of inter-municipal cooperation may set the rate of this tax under the conditions provided for in the first paragraph of this 2.

I ter. - 1. In municipalities where the rate or bases of property tax on undeveloped properties were zero the previous year, the municipal council may set the rate of this tax. However, the ratio between the rate thus voted and the average rate recorded for property tax on undeveloped properties in the previous year in all the municipalities must not exceed the ratio between the property tax rate on built-up properties in the municipality for the tax year and the average rate recorded for property tax on built-up properties in the previous year in all the municipalities.

2. In public establishments of inter-municipal cooperation with their own tax system where the rate of property tax on non-built properties was zero the previous year, the deliberative body of the public establishment of inter-municipal cooperation may set the rate of this tax. However, the ratio between the rate thus voted and the average rate recorded for property tax on non-built properties in the previous year in all the municipalities that are members of the public establishment for inter-municipal cooperation must not exceed the ratio between the property tax rate on built properties of the public establishment for inter-municipal cooperation for the year of taxation and the average rate recorded for property tax on built properties in the previous year in all the municipalities that are members of the public establishment.

II. - In the event of the creation of a public establishment of inter-municipal cooperation with its own tax system, the ratios between the rates of the four taxes established by the public establishment of inter-municipal cooperation must be equal, in the first year, to the ratios recorded in the previous year between the weighted average rates of each tax in all the member communes.

The provisions of the first paragraph are applicable in the year following that in respect of which the public establishment of inter-municipal cooperation voted a rate equal to zero for the four taxes.

III. - (Repealed)