Klaipėdos universitetas

Development of agriculture is a substantial element of a balanced development of a country, comprising the development of agricultural, forestry and fishery sectors as well as the aggregate of other economic, social, and ecological activities related to the rural environment. The two main types of state aid provided to agriculture and rural development include direct and indirect support. The state aid shall be fully consistent with the basic guidelines of the European Community regarding the support for agriculture. The aim of the research is to discuss the legal regulation in the sphere of state aid allocation and to analyse the dynamics and impact of allocated national subsidies for the development of agriculture and rural development. Currently, the requirements for allocation state aid in the form of subsidies undergo fundamental amendments within the framework of simplification of regulatory enactments of the EU CAP. The amendments relate to both the content and procedures of the requirements. The goal is to speed up the conformation and approval of state aid payments and to simplify the requirements for allocation of subsidies. It is envisaged that the amendments would not affect the targets of subsidies but they would provide more earmarked state support.

The research aim is to analyse the peculiarities for application of immovable property tax in Latvia and to assess the main factors affecting the amount of immovable property tax and contradicting the basic principles for imposing taxes. It is essential to review the methods how the State Land Service determines cadastral values for real estate, since the cadastral value is the base for calculation of immovable property tax. The revision is required as the establishment of a fair tax system is impossible without adequate and comparable cadastral values. In the future, land shall be valued pursuant to lease and not to expropriation transactions in Latvia, while the cadastral valuation of buildings might be done consistent with the method of expenses by determining construction expenses of buildings. The issue on mass inspection of physical condition of buildings and data updating shall be solved in Latvia. In addition, an issue on possibilities to apply the most fair procedure for tax calculation shall be solved on the governmental level, i.e. to calculate taxes consistent with procedure for the use of immovable property registered in the Land Register as well as to cancel the limitation for increase of immovable property tax stated by the municipality and to regulate the tax burden through tax rates.