Who should pay more tourist tax?
It was due to come into force on May 1, but it has been postponed pending the Government's parliamentary partners exploring an agreement among themselves.
BarcelonaNegotiating a three-way pact on both sides has its dangers, and the government is already beginning to see some of them. At the end of February, the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, and the leader of Comuns, Jéssica Albiach, announced an agreement to double the tourist tax in CataloniaThis week, the Catalan government was forced to backtrack and postpone its implementation following complaints from the ERC (Republican Workers' Party) and a warning from the Council of Statutory Guarantees. The new rate was due to apply starting this Thursday, May 1st, but with this decision, hotels, cruise ships, and holiday apartments will be able to spend the summer using the old rates if there are no last-minute changes.
The government's backtracking has calmed the Republicans, who have agreed to vote in favor of the decree law containing this regulation (in addition to tax increases for large property owners) when it reaches Parliament next week. However, this Wednesday, the ERC stepped up the pressure and filed its own bill with an alternative regulation of the tourist tax, in a new tug-of-war between the two parliamentary partners of the Government. According to Republican sources, the PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) pledged to accept their proposals in the processing of the decree as a bill, which primarily focus on adapting the tax to the characteristics of the region.
The ERC's complaint with the pact between the Comuns and the Government (which also angered the hotel sector) is that it failed to take into account that the tourism situation in Barcelona is different "than that of the rest of the territory." In other words: a five-star hotel in the center of Barcelona is not the same as a rural house in inland Catalonia, neither in terms of business volume nor number of clients. The text agreed between the Catalan government and Jéssica Albiach's group already differentiated between Barcelona and the rest of Catalonia. But ERC proposes different rates, and above all, rates that vary depending on whether the stay is during high or low season. The special rates refer to establishments located in gambling areas.
In any case, the fact that it has now been agreed that the regulation will not come into force until Parliament approves the bill It's the same move he already made The Catalan executive has decided to regulate seasonal rentals and rooms. In both cases, this means kicking the can down the road until the Parliament agrees on the new regulations. Regarding seasonal rentals, the ERC, Comuns, CUP, and PSC have agreed on an urgent process, which should allow the work to be completed in a maximum of three months. It remains to be seen whether the same will happen with the tourist tax.
The CGE notice
Republican sources consulted by ARA deny that presenting their own proposal would "discredit" the Commons. However, they warn that they already informed the Catalan government during the negotiations that they did not agree with its content (although the Catalan executive assumed their votes were a given) and recall that the same The Council of Statutory Guarantees touched the Economy's crust for having raised a tax via decree law without going through Parliament. "If we don't want it to be overturned, we must do it properly," they argue.
What both Comuns and ERC do agree on is allocating 25% of the revenue from this tax to housing policies, while the remaining 75% would go to the tourism promotion fund. They also support empowering city councils to introduce a surcharge, which until now only Barcelona City Council could do. However, the Republicans are in favor of the surcharge (which was supposed to be up to eight euros for Barcelona and up to four euros for the rest of the municipalities) only being applicable during the high season.
Commons wants to study it
How have the commons received the fact that, for now, their pact remains in standby? The parliamentary group is avoiding bloodshed. The leader of the Comuns in the Parliament, Jéssica Albiach, on Tuesday accepted the postponement decreed by the Government to guarantee "legal certainty" in the application of the tax, without mentioning the fact that the Republicans have distanced themselves from the pact. Regarding the ERC proposal, sources from the Commons assure that they still have to study it and interpret it as a clue of the amendments they could defend in the parliamentary committee.
The problem with the triangulation between Comuns, ERC and PSC could recur in the face of the negotiation of the third credit supplement: the Government must negotiate with the two parties, separately, the destination of the 500 million that remain outstanding, once the Government has already has secured the votes for the second injection of public funds –1.3 billion for payroll, for the tariff relief plan, and for energy.