Non-advalorem land taxes: features and prospects of collection

Introduction. Land taxes occupy a special place in the property tax system, differing from other components of the system in terms of high economic efficiency and fairness. Problem Statement. In Ukraine, as in most of the new EU member states, non-ad valorem land taxes are levied. In different countries, they have both certain common features and significant differences, primarily in the design of their structural elements and the degree of market calibration. The latter reflects attempts to improve area-based land taxes by bringing their base closer to the market value of land plots. The purpose of the article is to reveal the peculiarities of market calibration tools for land taxes in different countries and to find out whether it can be an alternative to the introduction of an ad valorem tax. Methods of theoretical generalization, comparative and critical analysis were used. Results. A comparative analysis of approaches to determining the base and rates of land tax in Ukraine and such new EU member states as Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovenia is carried out. The emphasis is placed on the tools of market calibration of the tax base determined on the basis of the area of land plots, namely, adjustment coefficients and differentiation of tax rates. It is concluded that the development of non-ad valorem property taxes in most countries is currently taking place by moving from simple area-based tax models to taxes calibrated according to market criteria, that is, in the direction of approximating their base, which continues to be determined by area, to the market value of land plots. Such approximation reduces the unfairness of the tax and ensures the taxation of land plots taking into account the quality of the soil, location and other factors. However, attempts to improve area-based taxes are not an alternative to the introduction of an ad valorem tax, since they mostly do not solve the problem of their low fiscal efficiency. In addition, the differentiation of tax rates, which is one of the tools for market calibration of taxes, as shown by the analysis of approaches to their establishment by separate territorial communities in Ukraine, is not always justified, and adjustment coefficients calculated on the basis of outdated data may not bring the land tax base closer to, but further away from, its market value, and their definition is often not transparent.