📋 Tender Overview
The Municipal Sustainability Scheme GVR is a promising instrument for making private homes more sustainable but there are doubts as to whether the method is fiscally and legally tenable. That is the conclusion of a study carried out by the Erasmus Study Center for Taxation of Local Governments and Ernst Young on behalf of the provinces of Utrecht North and South Holland. The provinces call on the central government to quickly remove the legal obstacles.The aim of the BVR is to make homes more sustainable where the owner does not have the opportunity to make the investment himself. With the GVR the municipality pays for the sustainability of the home. The home owner pays this amount back in 30 years by means of a monthly income tax. The income tax rests on the house so that the monthly payment obligation automatically transfers to the next owner when the house is sold. The BFG was developed by the Woonpas company in collaboration with a number of authorities.Experience has been gained with the method in Wijk bij Duurstede. The researchers conclude that the BFG works well and that all parties involved are satisfied.income taxOn the basis of this research however bottlenecks also emerge there are doubts as to whether the income tax may be used for this purpose. Income tax is a tax that a municipality may levy on homeowners if the municipality pays for work that benefits the general interest of residents. In this case reducing CO2 emissions to help combat the rise in temperature. The researchers therefore advise the legislator to legally guarantee the application of the benefit tax within the BFG in the short term so that no doubts and thus discussion can arise about this. For example by first creating temporary legal space for innovation pending a formal legislative process.Call to RijkDeputy Huib van Essen of Energy Transition and Climate We need an instrument such as the Municipal Sustainability Scheme to make homes more sustainable faster and on a large scale. Together with my fellow administrators from North and South Holland I therefore call on the government to remove the legal obstacles so that municipalities can get started quickly and without legal risks. The BFG or a similar scheme can create an acceleration to make 1.5 million homes more sustainable before 2030 and thus significantly reduce CO2 emissions.
