The Danish government plans to add aerial photographs to the tools it uses to assess housing and property taxes. Around 350,000 Danish homes will be assessed using the high-flying snapshots, according to Jyllands-Posten.
Those in favour say it will give the assessors a chance to see properties from every angle and also allow a comparison with neighbouring properties.
Not accurate enough
Konservative tax spokesperson Brian Mikkelsen disagreed, saying that aerial photos give “a false picture”.
“The home’s interior could be in bad shape, or there could be a bad smell coming from a nearby factory,” he told Jyllands-Posten. “You cannot see that from an aerial photograph.”
Cost-saving
Karsten Lauritzen, the tax minster, said that it will take many years and perhaps cost billions of kroner for assessments to be done by on-site visits.
“If I had millions or billions of kroner, I would rather use them to reduce taxes on labour than to make sure that manual assessments are accurate down to the last comma,” he said.
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Lauritzen also stressed that homeowners would have the opportunity to challenge the aerial assessments.
“I think that is more fair than waiting several years for an assessment,” he said.
