Foreigners who are not official residents in Spain believe they are being discriminated against by town halls on the Costa del Sol. It is alleged that they pay more in local taxes for having a second home than Spaniards and this aspect of the debate has renewed discussion on the problems of the financing of tourist municipalities that receive no help whatsoever in funding the increase in services required by the huge increase in their local populations during the summer months.
The investigation started after a request from two British Conservative MPs, Charles Tannock, the Conservative Foreign Affairs Spokesman in the European Parliament, and Teresa Villiers for the EC to investigate the subventions given for the IBI tax received by those who are officially registered as residents of Torremolinos and Fuengirola to the detriment of those who are not registered.
It has been alleged that Torremolinos Town Hall has discriminated against the foreigners who do not reside in the municipality all year round when it comes to collecting the IBI tax. The European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Frits Bolkenstein, says he has no evidence that discrimination exists between Spaniards and foreigners but has decided to open an investigation to examine the allegations.
TORREMOLINOS AND FUENGIROLA REFUTE ACCUSATIONS
Torremolinos Town Hall has stated that there is no distinction between non-residents, be they Spanish or foreigners in the payment of IBI. In November 2003 the administration increased the tax by 0.66 to 1.10 but it did not affect those officially registered with the town hall for a period of two years. A spokesperson for the town hall stated it hoped in this way to increase the official registered population of the town so that the municipality would receive more state aid to pay for the services it had to provide for the more than 200,000 people in the town as opposed to the funding it receives for the 54,000 who are official residents.
The same situation exists in Fuengirola where the Partido Popular administration of mayor Esperanza Oña approved a 43 per cent rise in the IBI tax, but allowed a subvention for those who are officially registered as residents as the town hall. Sra Oña has argued that the rise is legal and discriminates against nobody, as the rise is the same for the entire world. She added that to receive the subvention all people had to do, be they Spaniard or foreigners, was to officially register as residents at the town hall.
Courtesy of Costa del Sol News
www.costadelsolnews.es
