Faced with the outcry, the government is launching a consultation on the increase in property tax.

This "flash consultation" will aim to "examine the necessary changes" to property tax "to make it more transparent, clearer and fairer, with a view to simplification", the Ministries of Public Action and Accounts and of Territorial Development and Decentralization told the press.

It aims to be "cross-party with parliamentarians and local authorities, in particular associations of local elected officials", the executive added, noting that it will meet with "all stakeholders in the coming days".

For the calculation of property tax amounts in 2026, it is the so-called "comfort" elements, such as the presence of running water, electricity, toilets or sinks in the dwelling, which must be updated and included in the "property bases" of Bercy.

The presence of each of these elements artificially increases the number of square meters taken into account, and mechanically the amount of property tax.

"Bercy has decided to presume that all properties have these comfort features and indirectly to presume that the owners concerned are acting in bad faith by not having declared these features," Sylvain Grataloup, president of the National Union of Real Estate Owners (UNPI), told AFP.

On average, the increase will be 63 euros for the 7,4 million homes concerned.

Currently, some 32 million property owners pay property tax. In ten years, this tax has increased by 37,3%, between 2014 and 2024, with an acceleration from 2018 due to the indexation of rental value to inflation and no longer to a coefficient defined according to the evolution of rents.

Jean-Yves Mano, president of the Consumption, Housing and Living Environment Association (CLCV), told AFP that "this is not the right time to drop this bombshell which will potentially increase the financial pressure on some owners".

Especially since "the criteria could have been updated beforehand," he said. "I don't see what a sink or a shower adds to the potential value of a building; we're past that point!"

"False maneuver"

Sylvain Grataloup echoed this criticism, stating that "water and electricity are not about comfort, they are about decency," and called for a complete overhaul of this local tax.

At the Congress of Mayors, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Thursday that the debate was "stirred up by a few demagogues" and that it would "probably be necessary to revise the way in which the bases of rental values ​​are calculated", which constitute the basis on which property tax is calculated.

"There has been talk of reforming" these rental values ​​for several years, but "Parliament decided a few weeks ago to postpone this reform until 2030," says Sylvain Grataloup.

The announcement on Tuesday evening, following the publication of an article in Le Parisien, of this technical measure was criticized from all sides by political leaders on both the left and the right.

Former Macronist Prime Minister Gabriel Attal thus argued for the "abandonment" of this property tax increase. He was joined by David Lisnard, president of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), who stated that "there are already too many taxes."

National Rally leader Jordan Bardella denounced it as "a stab in the back for French owners".

The leader of the left-wing MPs, Mathilde Panot, opposed taking "money out of the pockets of French men and women once again and refusing to make the richest in this country contribute".

If property tax were to actually increase, this would benefit the local authorities that collect it.

This update was not requested by any local authorities, notes André Laignel, first deputy vice-president of the AMF, speaking to AFP, who believes that "the moment does not necessarily seem the most opportune to study in depth a subject of this nature".

As for the consultation that comes after the announcement, it has the appearance of a "false maneuver", according to Mr. Laignel, the Socialist mayor of Issoudun.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.