NC-BC said that what Onalia Bueno has designed is a tax on overnight stays that is disguised as a fee.
NC-BC understands that the ordinance is based on pre-constitutional tax principles and does not comply with the Revised Text of the Local Tax Law, because it does not establish the taxable event that generates the right to collection.
At the extraordinary plenary session held today in Mogán, the Government of Onalia Bueno submitted for initial approval the draft tax ordinance that establishes the first tourist tax designed by a local administration in our country.
The aim, expressed in the document, of the Mayor of Mogán is to finance the deficit incurred by the Mogan Town Hall when having to face the provision of public services to a total population of 48.000 people, including registered residents, tourists and related population such as those people who work in the municipality, for example.
According to the technical report, the Mayor of Mogán, who is the person who personally supports the proposal, understands that all tourists who stay in any accommodation establishment located in the municipality must contribute 0,15 for each day of stay to support public services and certain actions that are developed linked to tourism, reducing the deficit of said services.
The mayor maintains that activities such as the tuna, mango and avocado fairs should be financed with this new tourist tax, as she believes that these events represent a tourist promotion of the destination.
For NC-BC, as stated by councillor Juanma Gabella, Onalia Bueno's proposal is a complete botch job as it does not define which services, in particular, will be received by those who are obliged to pay the fee, which means a breach of article 2 of the General Tax Law, and what is even more serious, it establishes the taxable base using criteria from the time of the Franco dictatorship, included in the tax reform law of 1.957 and currently repealed since 1.979. Which allows it to modify the amount of the fee at will, which in turn means that today the rate will be 0,15 in 2024 and that in 2026 it will be €1,14, €3 or €6.
Furthermore, the nationalist councillor added that what Onalia Bueno has actually designed is not a tourist tax for the provision of services, but a tax on overnight stays, as the councillor for finance stated in the information commission. It is clearly a hidden tax on overnight stays, a tax disguised as a tax that prominent members of the university community and experts in this matter have defined as “taxes”.
This ordinance turns those registered in Mogán into tourists in their own land.
The NC-BC councillor, Juanma Gabella, explained that the management costs, which amount to more than €400.000, have not been taken into account when calculating the rate and will be passed on to the municipal budget. For the nationalist councillor, this means that the people of Mogan are going to pay more than those who visit us, because they will have to pay the rate when they stay in an establishment in the sector, when they receive water and rubbish collection services in their homes and the cost of managing the rate.
In this sense, he added that this rate becomes a kind of surcharge on the taxes paid by both the hotel sector and residents registered in Mogán, since they already pay the Mogán City Council for their water supply and waste collection, so now with the rate, these services would be doubly charged.
NC-BC announces filing of objections and appeals against ordinance.
For the nationalist formation, this ordinance is null and void as it flagrantly violates the General Tax Law and introduces concepts from the dictatorship in the establishment of the tax base, repealed since 1.979. In addition, for the NC-BC councillor, Juanma Gabella, residents registered in Mogán should not assume the cost of this tax, so he will state this circumstance in his allegations, so that in the event that Onalia Bueno's project is approved and applied, those registered in Mogán will be exempt from payment.
It is clear that Onalia Bueno works like a cash register, seeking, rather than solving a funding problem, to position herself in the media spotlight to gain notoriety in island and regional politics, Gabella said.
