Specifics of Real Estate Taxation in the Czech and Slovak Republics

Real estate taxes are not harmonized in the European Union. Individual states use different approaches when designing such taxes and the percentage of total tax revenues varies. Real estate tax revenues are low in the Czech Republic. This tax offers a potential source of increased revenue. The research seeks to identify whether different approaches affect real estate tax collection. The objective of this article is to evaluate approaches to real estate taxation in the respective states. Approaches were evaluated from the perspective of the tax beneficiary and by the design elements of the tax. Consequently, a comparison of transition and market economies was performed. This research evaluates secondary statistical data from the Financial Administration of the Czech Republic and Eurostat. The results of primary research conducted in the Czech Republic are also presented. Based on non-parametric tests, neither real estate tax as a percentage of total tax revenue nor real estate tax revenue per capita depend on who sets the design elements of the tax and who is the beneficiary. Differences between transition and market economies in the approach to real estate taxes were confirmed. In the area of real estate taxation, transition economies have not yet adapted to the trend, typical for market economies.

The real estate tax is the sole property tax in the Czech Republic and has been part of its tax system since its establishment, i.e. since January 1, 1993. The Czech Republic has long been recommended by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to increase the collection of this tax because its yield as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) is one of the lowest among all OECD and EU countries. The lower yield is in part attributable to the manner in which the tax base is determined. The Czech Republic, with the exception of a few minor instances, continues to employ the assessment-based rather than the value-based method of determining the tax base. Furthermore, the Czech Republic is encouraged to use the correction elements at the disposal of municipalities to influence the amount of property tax. This article examines the revenue aspect of real estate tax in the Czech Republic, including the determination of the tax base and the use of correction mechanisms. In light of these considerations, it is evident that the development of the Czech real estate tax system has been influenced by a number of factors, including the introduction of one of the most significant amendments to the Real Estate Tax Act in the country’s history. This amendment, known as the consolidation package, was implemented on January 1, 2024 and has had a profound impact on the current legislation.

The article deals with the evaluation of the impact of real estate tax reforms on their tax burden in the Czech Republic in the years 1993–2024. Real estate tax is one of the direct taxes, and in comparison, with income taxes, its importance lies mainly in providing income for local budgets. The unit type of tax rate specifically determines real estate rates. Facts, that tax reform in the area or real estate tax are minimal, the tax burden is often decreasing. As the tax burden decreases, so does the tax revenue. However, when tax reform occurs, this reform is often characterized by a significant increase in the tax burden. This is also evidenced by the last implemented tax reform in 2024 when rates increased by approximately 80%. The previous tax reform occurred in 2010 and increased rates by 100%. Despite this increase, the real tax burden decreased compared to the first analysed year 1993 and the last year 2024. The results of the regression analysis show that inflation is the factor that negatively affects tax revenue. To minimalize a decrease in tax revenue from 2024, a provision containing an inflation coefficient is implemented in the legislation as part of the 2024 reform. Conversely, a reduction in the tax burden was not found for real estate intended for permanent housing in small municipalities with up to 600 inhabitants. On the contrary, there was an increase in the tax burden. Scientific methods such as analysis and comparison, as well as regression and correlation analysis are used to achieve the paper’s goals.

This study aims to identify the differences in the use of HPV vaccination between female medical students in the Czech and Slovak Republics and their possible causes. We performed a cross-sectional survey among female students of general medicine in all faculties of medicine in the Czech and Slovak Republics. We obtained 630 questionnaires from the Czech Republic and 776 questionnaires from the Slovak Republic. In the Czech Republic, 65.4% of female medical students underwent HPV vaccination, while in the Slovak Republic, the figure was 21.1%. In the Czech Republic, residency and religion of students did not influence their rate of vaccination. However, in the Slovak Republic, village residency with less than 5,000 inhabitants lowered the probability of vaccination with OR = 0.56 (95% CI: 0.38-0.84), and the Catholic religion lowered the probability of vaccination with OR = 0.40 (95% CI: 0.28-0.57). Czech students were informed about the possibility of vaccination by a paediatrician in 55.7% of cases, while the figure for Slovak students was 26.8%. In the Czech Republic, 75.7% of students participated in regular cervical oncologic screening, while in the Slovak Republic, the figure was 57.7%. Vaccination of relatives would be recommended by 86.5% and 80.5% of Czech and Slovak students, respectively. The adoption of an oncologic prevention programme and the more extensive propagation by paediatricians are probably the medical reasons for the higher HPV vaccination among Czech students. Demographic factors - village residency and religion - are also important.

At the beginning of 1999, the new Framework 5 research program of the European Union was launched. Ten formerly socialist European countries have been admitted as associated participants. On this occasion, Robert Koenig published an article (News Focus, 1 Jan. p. [22][1]) discussing the level and current problems of science in those countries. We would like to point out some problems with the treatment of the data on citation statistics and offer a few additional comments on the subject. Having analyzed in detail the data provided by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), we conclude that the table on citation impacts in Koenig's article is based on an option that allows the user to extract the citation impact for a 5-year period, 1993 to 1997. This particular choice seems unfair, specifically for the Czech and Slovak republics. Czechoslovakia split into two states, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, at the beginning of 1993. ISI provides independent statistics for the Czech and Slovak republics only from 1994 on. The split of the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia occurred earlier. Therefore, the new states formed on these territories have had separate representations in the ISI database since 1993. Consequently, only the 4-year citation impact for the Czech and Slovak Republic was compared with the 5-year impact for the other countries in the table. We recalculated the citation impacts for all the countries listed in the table for the 4-year period 1994 to 1997 to make them directly comparable with the data available for the Czech and Slovak republics. After this recalculation, the Czech Republic becomes 22nd and the Slovak Republic 27th out of 33 European countries, instead of 29th and 33rd, as stated in Koenig's article. It may be useful to recall that the typical citation half-time of the journals followed by ISI is 4 to 10 years or even more. Therefore, the citation impact from a recent period may not be the most suitable measure of scientific output. Perhaps more interesting is the secular evolution of the citation impact for Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. The acceleration, starting around 1991, that is, after the fall of the communist system, is notable. This acceleration started at the same time that the political barriers preventing free contacts of Czechoslovak scientists and their Western colleagues were removed, a promising indication for the future. No doubt the community of Czech scientists cannot be satisfied with their current citation impact. Even among ex-socialist countries, the Czech Republic falls behind Hungary, Estonia, and Poland. A more detailed study will be needed to find out how much this can directly be ascribed to a lower quality of Czech publications in comparison with those from other countries. Many of us still remember too well that especially in the period after the Soviet invasion in 1968, Czechoslovakia became one of the most isolated socialist countries. Many Czech and Slovak scientists who had been working abroad, often with remarkable success, were forced to sever contacts with science in their home country. The situation was better in Poland and Hungary. Polish and Hungarian scientists who decided to live abroad, even without the permission of their Soviet-controlled governments, did not lose the links to their home institutions. There were also other barriers that should be considered in a comprehensive study of the subject. Yet, we prefer to see positive signs of future development. For example, in 1991, Czechoslovak astronomers decided to be the first community from all the ex-socialist countries to join their national journal, Bulletin of the Astronomical Institutes of Czechoslovakia, with the largest European astronomical journal, Astronomy and Astrophysics. This change was followed by an increase in the number of their accepted and published papers. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.283.5398.22

This paper deals with the influence of air accidents on legislation in civil aviation in the Slovak Republic and Czech Republic. Firstly, it focuses on defining essential terms, organizations, laws, and regulations which are affecting air accidents investigation. All these elements are based on the aviation regulation L13 (ANNEX 13). Then it deals with detailed analysis of chosen air accidents that happened in Czech or Slovak Republic. As a result of previous research have been defined categories of the most common causes of air accidents between the year 2016 and 2020 which occurred in Czech and Slovak Republic and created their classification. The main goal of the paper was to identify new legislation measures and changes, which have been propounded or adopted to prevent another air accidents with the same or similar causes in the future. Among those regulations belongs for example area 100 KSA, AUPRT or background checks. Lastly it deals with the upcoming legislation changes affecting civil aviation in Slovak Republic.

In this paper we provide a new list of all the mollusc species recorded outdoors in the Czech and Slovak Republics. This work is a supplement of the Ložek’s key on molluscs of the former Czechoslovakia. For the species recorded after the publishing of the book, publications of their first records in the Czech and Slovak Republics are given. Species which are either not included in this Ložek’s book or whose current taxonomical status highly differs from that published in the book are supplied with Czech commentaries, photographs of their shells or bodies, and drawings of important identification characters. This material is aimed at Czech and Slovak malacologists to provide information, missing or scattered in the literature, on currently known mo­llusc fauna of the Czech and Slovak Republics. The Ložek’s book and this supplement should provide necessary information on identification, ecology and also distribution of all mollusc species currently known from the Czech and Slovak Republics. If the species names used in this paper differ from the ones used in the Ložek’s book, we mention both. So far 247 species of molluscs, including 219 species of gastropods (50 aquatic and 169 terrestrial) and 28 species of bivalves, have been found outdoors in the Czech Republic. The fauna of Slovakia comprises 247 species, including 219 gastropods (51 aquatic and 168 terrestrial) and 28 bivalves. Altogether 282 species occur in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, 212 of them being common to both countries.

Objective: To determine if the application of guidelines for obstetrical anal sphincter injuries (OASIS) management adopted by professional society in a country improves healthcare compared to a country where the guidelines are not adopted. Materials and Methods: In 2008 and 2016, a questionnaire was sent to every maternity ward in the Czech and Slovak Republics. In 2011, the guidelines for OASIS management were published in the Czech Republic. The authors compared the changes in the management of OASIS in both countries and evaluated the effect of the guidelines on healthcare improvement. Results: In 2008, the current Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) classification of OASIS was not used by any hospital in both countries. In 2016, the classification was used by 48.8% of hospitals in the Czech Republic and by 11.5% of hospitals in the Slovak Republic. The percentage of hospitals in the Czech Republic which used antibiotic prophylaxis while treating OASIS increased from 87.3% in 2008 to 100% in 2016. In the Slovak Republic, the percentage decreased from 85.7% to 73.1%. Active follow-up increased in the Czech Republic from 40% to 70.8%. In the Slovak Republic, it increased from 33.3% to 38.5%. In 2008, the management according to EBM was not performed by any of centres participating in the survey. In 2016, this percentage increased to 34.1% in the Czech Republic and to 3.8% in the Slovak Republic. Conclusion: The introduction of guidelines improved healthcare more significantly compared to the country where guidelines are not yet adopted.

At the second session of the comprehensive deepening of the reform group in 2014, Comrade Xi Jinping stressed that all major reform should be based on the law. In the whole reform process, we should attach great importance to the use of the rule-of-law thinking and method, and strengthen the coordination of relevant legislative work. The problem of real estate tax is a major reform of this kind. First of all, the legislative history of real estate tax is fully understood from a historical perspective. Many problems in today’s legislation can be traced back to the source from the history. So by returning the legislation of real estate tax to thirty years ago, and careful observation of the changes in the legislation of real estate tax during the thirty years, it helps us to understand all the problems today. In this part, it can be divided into two stages, before and after 2011 when Chongqing and Shanghai started pilot legislation of real estate tax. In the former stage, the real estate tax system refers to the tax system of the urban business housing. Since 2011, the real estate tax law has further extended the scope to the private non-operating housing owned by the individuals. This means that the universal property tax will be gradually pushed aside. Secondly, the positive and negative aspects of the pilot real estate tax in Chongqing and Shanghai are thought in depth. It is a little biased that the academic circle focuses on negative factors of the experimental study of real estate tax, and criticizes the real estate tax mainly from the perspective of formal rule of law. Specifically, the positive significance of the pilot real estate tax in Chongqing and Shanghai has both the significance of ice breaking and the paving of the people’s psychology. And the negative factors of the pilot real estate tax in Chongqing and Shanghai also provide a new way of thinking for our future legislation of real estate tax. For example, the central government should adopt the unified legislation, but it may be appropriate to give the provincial governments the discretion in the aspect of partial tax elements. Moreover, we should have an international perspective, take cultural factors into account and study related foreign systems, including related real estate tax in South Korea, Germany and the United States. The comparative study on real estate tax systems with different cultural circle helps us to consider comprehensively in the forthcoming legislation of real estate tax, and make full use of some mature experience based on the national conditions, like real estate tax relief system, in order to conform to the principle of taxation according to the ability to pay. In a word, through the historical observation of real estate tax for thirty years, and focusing on the actual effect of pilot real estate tax in Shanghai and Chongqing since 2011, we have reviewed the experience and lessons of pilot real estate tax in Shanghai and Chongqing from both sides. From the positive and negative sides, we have investigated the value and function of real estate tax in the three aspects, need to promote the real estate tax reform through the rule of law, and consider the relevant authority of the central and local authorities, so that we can successfully promote the real estate tax reform in a relatively short time. In addition, in the concrete promotion of the legislation of real estate tax, we should fully learn from the experience of the United States, Japan, South Korea and other countries, and set up relevant supporting systems, so as to avoid a roundabout way.

BackgroundThe prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is increasing, and with it comes the demand for specialized services. Current information on the institutionalization of patients with AD is limited.ObjectiveTo determine the level of institutionalization among AD patients in the facilities of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.MethodsA survey of the rate of institutionalization in facilities in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. The survey collects data on the institutionalization of patients suffering from AD in relation to the capacity of the facilities and the prevalence of the disease. Data were collected by representative quantitative survey, during years 2019-2021.ResultsPatients with AD occupy approximately 25% of the total capacities of institutions in the Czech and Slovak Republics. The rate of institutionalization of patients with AD is estimated at 20.5% in the Czech Republic and 24% in the Slovak Republic. This is more than the estimated worldwide rate of institutionalization of people with AD (16%) but less than the estimated rate of institutionalization of these patients in high-income countries (31%).ConclusionsAs the prevalence of AD increases, so do the demands for care. If there is no increase in institutional capacity, this growth will put more pressure on home care. In order to provide specialized care to as many patients as possible, emphasis must be placed on increasing the capacity of institutions.

The agricultural sector in the Czech and Slovak Republic has problems in big and also in small farms. The pa- per is based on the assumption of the family farm algorithm, which is focused on the plant production. A family farm is represented by two adults and two children. The aim is to calculate the minimum size of the farm in hectare needed to achieve the average income (in the national economy) of the 4-member family in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia. The algorithms for determining the size of a family farm focused on crop farming in the corn production area in the economic and production conditions of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic were given the following inputs: the average annual income of a 4 member family, own costs for chosen crops, prices crops, average subsidies for agricultural land, average annual harvests of chosen crops. Data were obtained from the ministries of agriculture and statistical offices from both states. We calculate the average 4 member family in Slovakia needs to earn minimum 16 77.44 Euro per year and in the Czech Republic 18 322.08 Euro per year. The results of the paper proved that, according to the model of an average farm focused on crop production, the acreage of 89.99 ha in Slovakia and 122.31 ha in the Czech Republic of agricultural land needs to have one family farm. We are calculating with following commodities: wheat, barley, grain maize, sunflower, oil rape, potatoes and pea. One way to track changes in farm structure is to examine trends in the average size of holding, or average herd size in the case of livestock farms. However, this measure can seriously underestimate the pace of change where much of the growth (in area farmed, or in livestock numbers) takes place on the larger holdings. The persistence of many small holdings, even though the share of the land or livestock that they control is small and may be falling, tends to mask the extent of structural change as measured by averages. The aim of submitted paper is to determine the minimum size of agricultural land of a small family farm focused on plant production in the economic and production conditions of the Czech and Slovak Republics. In the submitted paper the data on farmers has been used in Slovakia and the Czech Republic from the data of business calculations by Research Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics from Slovakia and Research Institute of Agricultural Economy from Czech Republic. Key words: farm size, agricultural land, crop production, crops, costs, prices, subsidies.

The paper assesses similarities and differences between Finland, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic in terms of their forest bioeconomies. In Finland, which is perceived as a leader in forest bioeconomy, the national bioeconomy strategy was adopted in 2014 and updated in 2022. The Czech and Slovak Republics are following a path towards adopting national forest bioeconomy strategies and have partially adopted bioeconomy principles in other forestry-related strategic documents. The relevant core strategies are, the adoption of the bioeconomy concept in the Czech Republic by the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Low-Carbon Development Strategy of the Slovak Republic. The Czech and Slovak Republics have the potential to utilize the forest sector in order to enable development of their forest bioeconomies in the future.

The objective of this paper is primarily to compare and describe the development of the effective tax rate (relative tax burden) on the taxpayer earning only income from employment and emoluments in the Czech and Slovak Republics. The reason for choosing this type of income has been its importance in terms of the volume of tax collection in the area of natural persons income tax in the Czech Republic. The actual comparison has been performed for the years 2010, 2011 and 2012. In all cases, the legal status was considered that was valid and effective as of 31. 12. of particular year. Comparison of the effective tax rate was performed not only between the individual countries themselves, but also chronologically for individual countries (the Czech and Slovak Republics, respectively). After the general introduction, the relevant legislation as to incomes from employment and emoluments in both countries is explained. A separate chapter discusses the specification of the applied methodology, within which basic starting points and the simplifications applied are defined. Another part of the paper contains outputs from compiled mathematical models. These are presented in the form of graphic outputs and supplemented with commentary.

Research background: In 2020 and 2021, there was a significant price development in the real estate market in the whole of Europe. Many investors moved their capital into what they thought was a safe investment. These are specific investments in commodities and, above all, real estate. In the last three years, the Czech and Slovak Republics, along with other countries, had to deal with several crisis effects that fundamentally affected the real estate market. These are the global pandemic of the disease COVID-19, the energy crisis, and the war in Ukraine. Purpose of the article: In recent years, the housing market in the Czech Republic and Slovakia has been a hotly debated topic. The high demand for housing and at the same time the low supply of apartments and land cause a situation where real estate prices have a high tendency to rise. In this contribution, we will focus on the analysis of the development of the housing market in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and we will try to evaluate the situation in both markets with subsequent comparisons of both markets. Methods: We will be focused on the analysis of the situation in both markets for the years 2020, 2021, and 2022. For the evaluation, we will use many indicators for comparisons such as housing price indices, average wages, indebtedness, unemployment, and interest rates of the central banks of both countries and hypoindex indicators DTI, DSTI, and LTV. Based on these factors, we will then compare the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 2023. Subsequently, we will focus on the availability of housing in these countries, we will also mention in which parts of individual countries housing is cheaper and, conversely, more expensive. In the last part, we will deal with the macroeconomic forecast of both countries. That is, how indicators such as GDP, unemployment, average wages, inflation, and others will develop. We will also give examples of investment in real estate with selected funds. Finally, we will compare interest rates for mortgage loans from Czech and Slovak banks. Findings & Value added: In both countries, it is therefore assumed that real estate prices will stagnate in 2023, or possibly only grow more moderately.

Purpose: Crowdfunding as a form of alternative financing has become a widespread and successful form of financing new ideas. In this paper, we investigate crowdfunding in CEE countries, Slovakia and Czech Republic, with a strong focus on reward-based crowdfunding. The aim of this paper is to describe the current situation of crowdfunding in the Czech and Slovak Republic.Methodology/Approach: We have analysed the Czech and Slovak market and compared it to the global platform Kickstarter in an attempt to find variables affecting the success of projects using linear and logistic regression.Findings: The distribution of types of crowdfunding is similar to the global situation, but the low levels of awareness and conservatism are slowing down the speed of development of crowdfunding in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. We have also observed a higher degree of uncertainty and randomness in modelling of crowdfunding.Research Limitation/implication: In this paper, not all crowdfunding portals have been included because of data unavailability.Originality/Value of paper: The originality of this paper is guaranteed by its focus on the crowdfunding industry in the Czech and Slovak Republic.