Back to school in the Canary Islands is never easy. Between uniforms, lunch fees, and school supplies, families are saddled with a painful bill every September. But what many don't know is that each backpack also includes a hidden tax: the AIEM (Import and Delivered Goods Tax), a tariff created to protect local industry and which, in practice, makes what is most needed at this time more expensive.
The result is clear: not only notebooks and textbooks, but also sportswear, swimwear, and even handkerchiefs pay an extra toll for crossing the Atlantic. The AIEM translates into a 15% surcharge on paper or cardboard labels, even printed ones. Writing and printing paper and cardboard, used in notebooks and textbooks, bear a 10% surcharge. Newspapers and periodicals, which arrive with the smell of fresh ink, carry an additional 5%. Greeting cards and postcards, almost obsolete, bear a 15% surcharge, as do decorative prints and non-metallic photographs. Printed calendars, common in classrooms, pay a 5%.
The pressure doesn't stop at stationery stores. The AIEM also bites into the sportswear worn by schoolchildren. Tracksuits made of synthetic fibers, essential for physical education classes, carry a 5% surcharge. The same goes for knitted swimsuits, both for boys and men and for women and girls, all with a 5% surcharge. Even pocket squares, a minor product, are affected by another 5%.
The AIEM was born with a clear intention: to protect the Canary Islands' printing industry and small-scale industries from the avalanche of imports. However, in practice, the tariff acts as an additional cost that creeps into school lists and children's sports equipment. In September, when pockets are bulging with uniforms, registration fees, and school lunches, the AIEM appears disguised as a folio, a calendar, a tracksuit, or a swimsuit for swimming lessons.
Every parent who walks into a stationery store or sports store discovers that the final bill isn't just dictated by the school list, but also by a tariff hidden among codes and percentages. The paradox is cruel: the tax that was meant to strengthen local businesses ends up punishing the end consumer. On the Iberian Peninsula, textbooks and sportswear are already expensive; in the Canary Islands, they are further burdened by an AIEM (Income Tax on Income) that turns basic goods into luxuries.
As children break out their new pencils, erasers, backpacks, and sneakers, the AIEM makes sure to remind families that, on the archipelago, learning, running, and swimming are more expensive than anywhere else in Spain.
