Skopje Mayor OrceGjorgjievski noted Tuesday that over the course of 12 months of last year, MKD 1 billion were collected in taxes, of which about 70 percent were collected in the months after he took over the city administration. Responding to councilor questions at the tenth session of the Skopje City Council, the mayor noted that fiscal discipline is at a much higher level.
“It is generally known in the public that tax collection has been poor for years, and there were years when there was a real collapse on this issue. During the 12 months of last year, one billion denars were collected, of which about 70 percent were in the months after we took over the city administration. This means that fiscal discipline is at a much higher level. In that direction, the blockages that we made in accordance with the law followed, as well as an appeal to citizens to settle their obligations for 2022, 2023 and 2024 on time, in order to avoid being in a position, in accordance with the law, to have to block accounts for the past period,” Gjorgjievski noted.
Mayor Gjorgjievski also stressed that in the coming period, work is underway on a reassessment of the property tax. He emphasized that this will be an extensive operation, which cannot be completed overnight, but the expectations are that it will bring in an additional over EUR 30 million annually in taxes. He explained that during this operation, the databases will be cross-referenced with the Real Estate Cadastre Agency. The first municipalities where it will be implemented are Karposh and Centar, because, as Gjorgjievski pointed out, according to the analyses, it has been determined that there are the most differences in taxes there, then the reassessment will be implemented in all municipalities.
“The difference in collection is serious. There were years when 233 million denars arrived as income from taxes, compared to one billion that we collected in the past period. That will be the moment when the financial stability of the city will significantly increase, together with the revaluation of the property tax,” underlined the capital’s mayor.
