A plot of land can be cultivated and lie in an area where the municipality wants to build. It is at this intersection of agricultural use, family ownership and housing policy that the concern expressed by the Centrale paysanne about the future tax on the mobilisation of land, the IMOB, arises.
The debate is not about a tax that would apply indiscriminately to all fields in Luxembourg. It concerns a scheme intended for undeveloped plots designated for construction, and the conditions for the exemptions provided for agriculture. As at 6 November 2026, the Chamber of Deputies still lists parliamentary dossier 8082A as a bill before committee.
Two objectives meet on the same plot
In its presentation of 17 July 2025, the government said it wanted to encourage construction on plots designated for building that remain undeveloped. Its stated aim is to mobilise land for housing and limit land banking.
The difficulty raised by agricultural representatives concerns the current use of some of this land. A plot without a house is not necessarily land without activity. It may be worked, while belonging to someone other than the person who cultivates it.
This distinction is at the heart of the issue. Housing policy is concerned with the possibility of building; agricultural activity depends on the availability of land. Both perspectives can apply to the same area, without either one alone describing the whole situation.
What the government presentation proposed
The government announced tax relief for the agricultural and wine-growing sectors, in sections dealing with property tax and the tax on the mobilisation of land. These are two distinct instruments: the reform of property tax, or IFON, and the creation of the IMOB should not be confused.
Slide 25 of the presentation of 17 July 2025 describes agricultural exemptions for land owned by farmers or winegrowers, and by their family members up to the second degree of kinship. It does, however, provide an exception for land situated in localities designated as priorities for development on spatial-planning grounds.
This presentation sets out the rationale behind the amendments. It is not enough to determine the tax position of a particular plot: that would depend on the text ultimately adopted, the applicable conditions and the precise identification of the plot. Readers therefore cannot infer from the fact that land is cultivated alone that it would necessarily be exempt.
Why uncles and aunts are part of the debate
In remarks reported by RTL on 27 October 2026, Philippe Keipes, deputy director of the Centrale paysanne, highlights family arrangements in which uncles or aunts own all or part of land leased to the farmer.
His objection concerns the limit of the second degree of kinship: according to the Centrale paysanne, it does not cover these third-degree relationships and risks making access to land more precarious. The organisation fears that the owners concerned may choose to sell.
This is a risk raised by agricultural representatives, not a measured wave of sales or an automatic consequence of the reform. Nor does the dossier make it possible to quantify here how many farms would be affected.
The practical issue is nevertheless clear: the person who works the land and the person who owns it may face different constraints. An exemption focused on ownership and certain family relationships does not necessarily cover all the land used by a farm.
The bill’s status matters as much as its objective
Dossier 8082A concerns property tax and the tax on the mobilisation of land. The Chamber’s file lists it as being before committee and names the Committee on Internal Affairs, with Marc Lies as rapporteur. It lists the amendments, as well as opinions from the Council of State and several professional chambers.
This stage does not amount to an applicable tax rule. A government amendment is a proposed change; an opinion informs the examination of the text. Neither should be presented as a final vote.
The original reform has also been split. The section relating to the non-occupation of housing is proceeding through separate work. Referring indiscriminately to a tax on land and a tax on empty homes would blur the people concerned, the properties targeted and the stage reached by each scheme.
The useful reference point for following this dossier is therefore its parliamentary number, 8082A, rather than an old announcement about when it would come into force. The stages and versions of the text may change during its examination.
The practical questions behind the exemption
Three distinctions make it possible to follow the debate without turning a collective concern into individual tax advice. First, use: is the plot actually being worked? Then ownership: who owns it, and under what family arrangement? Finally, its status in planning documents: does it fall within the area and priorities in question?
These questions do not, in themselves, amount to a tax calculation. They show why two cultivated plots may be in different situations, and why a general answer does not resolve every case.
The political challenge is to reconcile the mobilisation of land for housing with the continuity of agricultural activity. To assess the final response, it will be necessary to examine the precise scope of the exemptions and the situations they leave out. At this stage, the concern expressed by the Centrale paysanne highlights one aspect of the bill; it does not allow us to conclude that all farmers will lose their land.
Sources - Chamber of Deputies: dossier 8082A, status and parliamentary documents. - Government: presentation of the amendments of 17 July 2025 ; presentation slides, page 25 — PDF. - RTL Infos: the Centrale paysanne’s demands, 27 October 2026.
Illustrative photograph: a rapeseed field in Hamm in April 2024. This image does not indicate the plot’s planning classification or tax status.
