Bench in the city center. This is allowed without having to pay sufferance tax.© Photo Marcel Rob
Eric Molenaar
Horn
If entrepreneurs in the municipality of Hoorn want to place a bench against their facade for the general interest, which is no larger than one square meter, they do not have to pay precario tax on it.
This is the result of a proposed amendment to the precario tax regulation, which was adopted on Tuesday evening with 18 votes against 16. The VVD had taken the initiative after a commotion had arisen in the city center because entrepreneurs with a small bench for their business ‘suddenly’ had to pay taxes. The factions that co-submitted the proposal were also in favor: in addition to VVD, this involved Fraction Tonnaer, EenHoorn, PvdA, CDA and ChristenUnie.
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Mitchel Sluis (VVD) indicated that the applicants believe that the benches contribute to the quality of life and experience of the shopping streets. “We hope that more entrepreneurs will install more benches, making the city center even more accessible.”
Initially, the exemption was limited to entrepreneurs in the city center, but after a comment from Sociaal Hoorn this was deleted and it now also applies to, for example, local shopping centers and villages.
Councilor Axel Boomgaars said he advises against the amendment proposal, because he believes it is not a solution and the commotion about the tax on benches was mainly due to a lack of communication. Anyone who places objects on or above municipal land had to pay precario tax, until this was temporarily stopped due to the corona crisis. Boomgaars: “We should have sent a letter or app: because of corona there was an exemption for two years and now we are starting to levy again. Now you seem like a petty municipality that will charge for everything.”
Boomgaars could do better with a motion by Hart van Hoorn and D66, which requested that the topics ‘improved communication’ and ‘less regulatory burden’ be made important themes of the Inner City Action Agenda. Better communication was already something the council wanted to work on.
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