Prepared by Messenger Staff
Property Tax Exemption Threshold to Rise to GEL 100,000
The annual household income threshold for individual property tax will rise from GEL 40,000 to GEL 100,000 under changes planned by the Georgian Dream party.
The change is expected to take effect in October and apply to property tax declarations due this year. The government estimates that around 81,000 people will no longer have to pay the tax.
Georgian Dream parliamentary majority leader Irakli Kirtskhalia announced the decision on September 14, saying the amendments had been prepared with the Finance Ministry and would be submitted to Parliament under an expedited procedure.
The current GEL 40,000 threshold has been in place since 2005. Under the existing rules, households earning between GEL 40,000 and GEL 100,000 pay property tax at rates of 0.05% to 0.2% of the taxable value of their property. For households earning more than GEL 100,000, the rate is between 0.8% and 1%.
The income calculation covers salaries, taxable income from economic activity and other income defined by the Tax Code. It can also include income from family members living together in the same household.
The threshold has faced calls for an increase in recent years, with critics arguing that inflation and rising incomes have made the GEL 40,000 limit outdated and that it "can no longer fulfill its function."
Maia Bitadze Appointed Culture Minister
Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has appointed ruling party MP Maia Bitadze as minister of culture, replacing Tinatin Rukhadze, who resigned in July for health reasons.
Bitadze has served in Parliament since 2020 and previously worked as deputy mayor of Tbilisi and deputy minister of environmental protection. During her time as deputy mayor, she was also responsible for the culture sector.
Kobakhidze praised Bitadze's management experience and described her as responsible and diligent.
Bitadze called the appointment "a great responsibility" and "an expression of trust," saying she wanted to listen to people working in Georgia's cultural sector.
"Culture is not only art and cultural heritage, but also part of our nation's identity," she said.
First Deputy Culture Minister Mikheil Kiknadze had served as acting minister since Rukhadze's resignation.
