Former Deputy Minister of Finance and founder of Tax & Legal Solutions, Zurab Dznelashvili, is urging the government to make the ongoing property tax reform process public and open to discussion. Speaking on BMGTV, he said the Ministry of Finance should not develop such an important reform behind closed doors. “The main thing is that the reform becomes a subject of public discussion. The public should know what changes are being made,” he noted.
Since 2023, the Ministry has been working on a new property tax model, reportedly based on the Estonian system. A regulatory impact assessment document has already been prepared, but the proposal has not yet taken the form of a draft law or been submitted to the Parliament. Dznelashvili said he was informed that several versions of the reform are under consideration but criticized the Ministry for withholding details from the public.
According to him, under the Estonian model, the tax is determined by the cadastral value of land, which is set by the state. While this approach simplifies administration and ensures stable municipal revenues, it also carries the risk of inaccuracies in valuation. “It is important what methodology will be used to determine the value and how often it will be revised. In Estonia, this happens once every 5–10 years, but in Georgia such rare revisions would not reflect reality,” Dznelashvili explained.
The lawyer also highlighted the broader issue of tax policy instability in Georgia, saying that frequent legislative and regulatory changes make it difficult for businesses to plan ahead. “Tax legislation should be stable. Unfortunately, today there are frequent surprises—changes in bylaws and orders that we either learn about late or that take effect too quickly. Businesses should have time to adapt,” he added.
