The City of Tallinn had completed 269 court cases while 535 were still ongoing by the end of 2008, according to LETA. During the year 2008, a total of 424 new court cases that involved the City of Tallinn were initiated 's one of them was a criminal case and 312 were civil cases. In comparison to the year 2007, the number of new court cases initiated against the city of Tallinn had fallen by 30 percent. City government authorities said such developments should be considered positive. In 2008, the City of Tallinn spent more than 12.5 million kroons (798,400 euro) from the city reserve fund on court disputes and claims linked to the court and other legal disputes.
The Tallinn City Government has approved a draft decision by the City Council, to reduce Value Added Tax (VAT) on heating costs. The decision means that VAT on heating energy and fuelling materials will be slashed to 5 percent, down from the current 18 percent as of January 1, 2010. The cuts bring the heating tax rate in line with previous levels. In 2007 the government increased the tax on heating energy from 5 to 18 percent, causing an abrupt surge in housing expenses for city residents. Deputy Mayor of Tallinn Jaanus Mutli said tax increases directly affects the subsistence of all individuals and lowering of the VAT rate to the former level would somewhat relieve the social problems that had emerged.
