Bringing objective values down to market prices an uphill battle

The Finance Ministry is gearing up to bring the country's so-called objective values used to determine property taxes down to the level of market prices, with the aim of getting a new system up and running from January 1, 2018.

Two amendments tabled in Parliament late on Thursday provide for the formation of a coordinating committee under Minister Euclid Tsakalotos for the revision of objective values, and the creation of a Property Transfer Value Register.

The latter amendment foresees the utilization of the Property Value Bank database in the ministry's integrated information technology system, fed by a constant flow of data that will provide the basis for a digital system to value properties.

This will be the forerunner to a new automatic system that will replace objective values. However, it will be extremely difficult for the committee to create a reliable...