On the initiative of the Greens, the Bad Ischl municipal council decided to pass a resolution to the Upper Austrian provincial government, in which a further development of the flat-rate leisure apartment fee into an effective vacancy tax is demanded.
“The situation on the housing market is getting worse from year to year,” says Martin Schott, spokesman for the Greens in Bad Ischl. “One reason for the price increases is that many of the existing apartments are not rented out.” Vacancies reduce the supply of apartments and endanger both the affordability and the availability of apartments. “As a result, there is also pointless soil sealing and a waste of resources,” says Schott. “Especially in tourist regions that advertise the beauty of nature, this is also dangerous for tourism as an economic factor.”
In the resolution, the state government is asked to reform the existing flat rate for leisure accommodation and to develop it further into a real vacancy tax. On the one hand, municipalities should be able to prescribe the fee directly and, on the other hand, to set the amount more flexibly.
Source: Nachrichten
