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The Constitutional Court has rejected the request of the Association of Builders that objected to the new property references established in July 2023, with the argument that it brought them additional costs in the building tax.
The Constitutional Court made this decision with the argument that the tax calculation formula is not the subject of consideration in this constitutional trial.
Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court also announces that the full argumentation of its decision will be made public at a second moment.
Notice of the Constitutional Court:
The Constitutional Court considered in a public plenary session the case with the petitioner, the Association of Builders of Albania, with the object of repealing point "a.2" of annex 1 and letter "dh" of annex 2 of VKM no. 457/2023 that determines the average reference prices per square meter of construction area for the municipality of Tirana.
The applicant has claimed that the above provisions, which have significantly and disproportionately increased the value of the building tax, violate the freedom of economic activity, the right to private property, the principle of legal certainty, in the sense of the retroactive power of the act. the principle of equality before the law and non-discrimination as well as the legal reserve.
The Constitutional Court, convened today on 06.11.2024, assessed that the petitioner is legitimized ratione personae to set in motion the constitutional trial, as the VKM provides regulations that apply and directly affect the builders, who are members of the association.
Regarding the legitimation ratione materiae, the Court assessed that the claims presented were of a constitutional nature, therefore it dismissed them on their merits.
Regarding point "a.2", of annex 1 of VKM no. 457/2023, the Court first examined the claims for the violation of the principle of legal certainty and observed that the arguments brought by the petitioner were essentially not related to the reference prices provided by VKM no. 457/2023, object of the constitutional judgment, but with the methodology for determining the taxes which have the reference price of the building, as a constituent element of the formula or methodology of their calculation.
In this perspective, the Court points out that the tax calculation formula, which turns out to be provided in the law on local taxes of 2006, amended in 2017 and detailed in VKM no. 132/2018 is not the subject of review in this constitutional trial. While the petitioner failed to prove and argue neither in his initial request nor during the trial in the plenary session, why the new reference prices in themselves violate the constitutional principles claimed by it.
Bearing in mind that also for the other claims regarding the violation of the freedom of economic activity and equality before the law and non-discrimination, the applicant has presented the same arguments, which were basically not related to the reference price, but to the methodology for determining taxes , the court assessed that these claims cannot be considered.
Regarding the letter "dh" of annex 2 of VKM no. 457/2023, the Court assessed that it does not violate the principle of legal certainty in terms of the ambiguity of the norm, since the provision is clear in its wording, because it refers to the norm of 0.2% indexation for new constructions, for non-residential premises, for a period of 5 years in relation to residential premises.
While in relation to the claim for the violation of the legal reserve due to the lack of delegation by law according to Article 118 of the Constitution, the Court assessed that the contested provision (letter "dh" of Annex 2 of VKM no. 457/2023) was issued in accordance with the legal delegation defined in article 21, point 2 of the law on local taxes, which provides that the methodology for determining these taxes will be made by the Council of Ministers. The letter "dh" of annex 2 of VKM no. 457/2023 is a provision that regulates the tax methodology for the building, therefore this claim is also unfounded.
At the end of the examination of the case, for the above reasons, the Court unanimously decided:
- Dropping the request.
The final decision will be announced as reasoned within the legal deadlines provided by law no. 8577, dated 10.02.2000 "On the organization and functioning of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Albania", as amended by the Regulation on Judicial Procedures of the Constitutional Court.
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