Taxe foncière bills - why many French communes are not raising rates this year

The majority of communes in France have decided against increasing the taxe foncière property tax this year above the national rise, as local elections loom large in the minds of officials. 

It means that most homeowners in France will only see their bills rise slightly, due to the nationwide inflation-based increase on the tax that is applied across the board. 

Of the 12.6% of communes choosing to further increase the tax beyond this, most are communes with fewer than 3,500 residents. No cities are increasing rates above the 1.7% inflation-linked rise.

In areas where rates have increased, they have almost all been low, with one notable exception.

Local authorities are thought to be minimising extra taxes owners must pay hoping this is remembered during the municipal elections to be held next year. 

The government recently announced that the municipal elections to return councillors (and with them mayors and deputy mayors) will take place on March 15 and 22, 2026.

You can find your commune’s rate for this year and last year by downloading the data here (the Taux votés en 2025 pdf) and searching your commune’s name by pressing Ctrl+F.

Authorities resist taxe foncière route for raising income

Taxe foncière calculations are based on the theoretical rental value (valeur locative cadastrale, or VLC) of a property. 

Calculations are complex and based on several factors, but each year VLCs are increased by the previous year’s rate of inflation.

For 2025, VLCs have been increased across the board by 1.7% due to the 2024 inflation rate, significantly lower than in the preceding years which saw increases of 3.9% in 2024, and 7.1% in 2023.

As a locally-collected tax however, authorities set the final bill by applying a percentage multiplier to the VLC to calculate bills for properties in their area. 

Authorities vote on this final rate before bills are issued at the end of summer.

These local rates can be used to increase the final amount of the tax, or, rarely, reduce the rate to cancel out the nationwide increase. 

However, local authorities can also choose to keep their rate the same, thus there is no rise to the bill other than the national inflation-based increase.

In previous years, this has seen year-on-year increases vary between communes, with some cities applying additional increases of up to 40%. 

However, information from the La direction générale des collectivités locales shows that the majority of communes this year have not increased their rates. 

No major city (with a population of 100,000 or more) increased its rate.

Only 2% of commune authorities with 10,000 to 100,000 residents voted for an increase.

Small communes are the most likely to have seen an increase, including 13.2% of those with fewer than 500 residents, 14.4% of those between 500 and 3,500 and 7.3% of those between 3,500 and 10,000 residents. 

When averaged, 12.6% of communes voted to increase their rates: 4,386 communes out of a total 34,797.

1.1% lowered their rates to partially or fully cancel the inflation linked increase. 

Tax rates double in one commune

However residents in one commune face an increase of 136%. 

Gandrange (Moselle) has around 3,000 residents, with homeowners now seeing bills more than double.

One resident told media FranceBleu that his taxe foncière had increased from €900 to more than €1,800. 

Mayor Henri Octave says it is an exceptional measure to help the local authority pay off an estimated €3.1 million debt, after the commune lost a legal battle to see interest rates on a loan reduced. 

“Of everything we had to pay, all payments other than security and personnel had to be stopped. Other expenses deemed non-priorities had to be stopped; everything was put toward repaying this loan,” he said. 

Mr Octave added that rates should fall in 2026.