The PSOE municipalities launch an offensive to impose the tourist tax

The taboo that has been until now the tourist tax for Spanish Administration and companies begins to cease to be. Because the debate on its implementation is already prevailing in the town halls of some of the main capitals that seem conspired to get a slice of the more than 80 million tourists who visited our country in 2019. To that end, they could follow in the wake of large tourist centers such as Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, which have already been launched in recent years to articulate the necessary regulations so that in their main destinations they can charge tourists a tax per overnight stay, alleging reasons of sustainability and heritage preservation. The last great capital to ask for its implementation was Seville. The socialist mayor of the city of Seville, Antonio Muñoz, this week asked the Junta de Andalucía for collaboration to draw up regulations that facilitate these impositions on visitors, since their establishment has to be enabled under regional legislation. It is not the only Andalusian city that seeks to introduce the tax on tourists. The city council of Granada, led by the socialist Paco Cuenca, has opened the ban and reached out to other Andalusian capitals to ask the government of Juanma Moreno to facilitate the entry of the new tax. There are also consistories of the PP according to this request, as is the case of Malaga, controlled by Francisco de la Torre. Beyond Andalusia, the initiative has been promoted by the PSOE city council of Santiago de Compostela, but for now it is running into opposition from the Xunta de Galicia. The regional executive of the PP led by Alfonso Rueda rejects the establishment of this tax, but claims to be open to discussing its introduction with the mayor of the city of the apostle, Xosé Sánchez Bugallo. Where its entry seems closest is in the Valencian Community. The Generalitat is already processing in Parliament the Proposal for a Law on Fiscal Measures to promote sustainable tourism, which it hopes to apply as of next year or in 2024 with prices that will range between 0.5 and two euros per person and night, depending on the type of accommodation. Exceptions will only be made for those under 16 years of age and tourists from the Imserso social travel program. In any case, its establishment will fall to the municipalities and so far among the most visited destinations in the region, only the Valencian capital led by Compromís with the support of the PSPV has shown its willingness to apply. In the case of the Levantine region, its imposition has been rejected by the tourism sector. Last July, the hotel management of the Valencian Community, Hosbec, regretted that there is talk of charging this rate to tourists «when we have a weakened economy, runaway inflation and generalized impoverishment of Spanish and European citizens. Continuing with this procedure will weigh like a slab on the companies and workers in the sector and on all Valencian citizens. Related News THE LAST LIBERAL opinion No The tourist tax in times of the left-wing tripartite Fernando Llopis could not help but think that with all the damage that the left-wing tripartite is doing to tourism, the promoters of the tax bequeath that the tax is common in the major European cities. Capitals such as Paris, Rome, Berlin, Amsterdam, Vienna or Brussels charge their visitors for spending the night in their accommodation, whether hotels, hostels or tourist apartments in some cases. The truth is that in Spain the tourist tax is already a reality. In Catalonia, it has been in force since 2012 in hotels and has even been revised to adapt it to other accommodation options such as short-stay apartments. In the Catalan region, it is charged between 0.45 and 2.25 euros per person per night depending on the category of the establishment. Its great pole of attraction, Barcelona, ​​has it implanted. Larger figures are charged in the Balearic Islands. City councils such as Palma de Mallorca that have agreed to implement the rate charge up to four euros per person per night in the case of 4 and 5 star hotels, as well as top category apartments. Hotel Rejection The extension of the hotel tax is not viewed favorably, especially among hotel businessmen, who believe that this measure is implemented exclusively for collection purposes. “It is to tell the tourist that he pays little, that it bothers him to come, that he pollutes and that is why I put a fee on him so that he bothers him less,” adds the general secretary of Cehat, Ramón Estalella. "Tourism creates 3.5 million jobs and 800,000 companies that contribute with taxes and that after the great summer we have had will be reflected in a large collection through Companies and VAT," says the leader. Estalella believes, on the other hand, that the focus must be on formulating protective measures for the territory "so that the contribution goes directly to the tourist municipalities, because a large part of the proceeds goes to other administrations."

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