JŪRMALA, Latvia — The Jūrmala City Council announced this week that it will approach the Latvian parliament to ask to have real estate tax in the city reduced.

Currently the tax scheme is favorable for large properties, while family homes are taxed at almost the same rate.

Jūrmala Mayor Tomas Ražuks, who is a Lithuanian native, said the law discriminates against Jūrmala residents and want the tax to be capped 5 percent and aligned with earnings of residents.

The requests have already been sent to the country’s finance minister, prime minister, president and parliament members.

Under current regulations, a property of around 1,500 square meters would be taxed around 780 lats (€1,114) while a property of 150 square meters, one tenth the size, would be taxed 560 lats.

The new taxes on real estate increase the tax burden on residents in the city by 57.11 percent.

A petition is running on the issue and will be submitted with all signatures on August 10.

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