Nice City Council voted to increase the rate of housing tax for second homes at a public meeting on Friday, February 2, local French daily Monaco-Matin reports.

Until now, second home owners were required to pay housing tax at a 20 percent higher rate than principal home owners, but from 2019 the surcharge will increase to 60 percent, the ceiling allowed by French law.

The opposition on the City Council agreed with the move, with Socialist leader Patrick Allemand saying that someone who pays for a second home in Nice has the means to pay a few hundred euros of additional housing tax.

The only opponent of the tax hike was Benoit Kandel, well-known for his liberal economic outlook.

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