The government will examine the possibility of imposing a property tax on assets valued over €3 million after implementing tax reform, Finance Minister Makis Keravnos said.
The minister addressed the Finance Committee on Monday morning in response to AKEL questions about a bill the party submitted proposing a 1 per 1,000 tax on property with a total value exceeding €3 million.
The Economics Research Centre also proposed the measure, which the government did not adopt. Keravnos said the issue would be examined after the tax reform.
The tax was abolished a few years ago, he explained. The minister said the matter would be examined and studied comprehensively, including how it could be imposed by local authorities.
Regarding AKEL’s proposal for a scaled company fee, also recommended by the Economics Research Centre during tax reform preparations, the government deemed it right not to impose this now whilst so many tax changes are being made for businesses, he said.
On the taxation of Provident Funds’ investment activities, Keravnos noted the State Aid Commissioner’s opinion considers non-taxation to constitute state aid.
“The EU will ask us for explanations. If there is no issue of affecting competition and state aid, but we have these issues ahead of us,” he added.
Asked whether the government intends to increase cryptocurrency tax to 15% from the proposed 8%, he said the issue is not taxation but detecting these assets. “Going to 15% is something that should concern us, but it’s not easy to detect them,” he stressed.
The EU is preparing a regulation Cyprus will be called to implement, he said.
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