The ecotax and natural parks - centre of the political and social debate
According to the GOB, the better way of collecting the tax is via transport, boats and planes, in other words at the airports or ports. The ecological organisation thinks that the application of the new tax will compel an increase in control on legal offers. On the other hand, sources of the Federación Empresarial Hotelera de Mallorca (FEHM) do not pay any importance to what they consider to be illegal offers as this only occurs when the establishments contract stays of only a few days or weeks. Therefore this does not affect the main accommodation offer by houses or apartments that are rented to tourists by the month or longer and that at present are not considered to be tourist establishments, and only officially obliged to declare the incomes in concept of house rentals, and therefore not subject to the norms for tourist establishments.
The ecologists evaluate positively the fact that the Balearic Government has definitely defined the proposal for the ecotax although they insist that the tax should be really finalist and be directed towards financing environment projects, especially those aimed at conserving the territory. In this sense, they consider it essential that an entity should exist to control the destination of the Funds from the ecotax, made up of representatives of every civil society, Town Councils, Island Councils and Balearic Government. What is more, the GOB think that the quantity of the new tax should be different according to the time of the year, with an aim to stabilise the number of tourists who visit us over the year.
The FEHM think that the new tax is discriminatory as it does not affect the whole tourist sector, but rather only the subsector dedicated to accommodation. The hoteliers indicate that they represent 50% of the Gross Annual Income of the Balearics and that their fiscal contribution is already very important. The hoteliers think that their tax payment share is enough to compensate the environmental imbalance that they create and that the new tax can decrease their competivity as a great part of the "market" is not made up of tourists as such, but rather the tour operators, and these may not accept an increase in prices, which would affect the exploitation accounts of the tourist firms. The hoteliers, just like other many voices in the political, economic and social fields, consider that the problem falls on the fiscal deficit that the Balearics suffers and that makes the global contribution to the State's treasury by the Islands be in relation to the economic movement generated by 12 million tourists per annum received by the Balearics, whereas the budget amounts destined by the State to the autonomous community is computed basically in relation to the 800,000 inhabitants in the census.
The hoteliers are against the application of the tax, but their leaders insist that the intensity of the debate on this topic should be reduced, and that all division of society should be avoided, such as is occurring with the topic of the possible declaration of Serra de Llevant and the Serra de Tramuntana as natural parks. However, the FEHM have ordered a legal study of the situation from a prestigious group of lawyers in Madrid, with a view to considering the presentation of a legal appeal for non-constitutionality based on the fact that the new tax does not fulfil the principle of equality, since it falls only on the hotel subsector. What is more, the Hotel Federation has ordered a report from consultants to study the real cost of the new tax in the exploitation accounts of the tourist firms if the tour operators do not accept the inclusion of the ecotax within the tourist packages.
As far as the controversy connected to the Natural Parks, the GOB have decided to create a Platform of entities and association in favour of the natural parks and has edited 5.000 informative pamphlets about the PORN of the Arta Peninsula and about the possible declaration of one or more protected areas in this area. The Council for Environment of the Govern de les Illes Balears has elaborated a scheme called "Espais naturals: Procés de participació ciutadana i informació pública", in which the different phases needed to approve a Ruling Plan for Natural Resources (PORN) are explained in a very simple way, and the conservation proposals derived from these.
The opposers to the declaration of natural parks that affect private properties, such as the FARB, Association of Owners of Rustic Properties of the Balearics, do not intend to give up their claims. Yesterday, Fernando Fortuny, the president of the owners' association, participated in the full council meeting in the Ayuntamiento de Palma to express his rejection of the declaration of Parks on private land. The Full Council Meeting, after an intense debate, passed a motion to ask the Governm, according to the law 4/1989, of 27 March, for the Conservation of Natural Areas and the Wild Flora and Fauna, to create only natural parks in publicly owned properties.
In the same way, the full council meeting of the Andratx Council agreed yesterday to ask for the Natural Park of the Serra Tramuntana to be limited to public properties. The motion passed, had the support of the Partido Popular, differed to that presented by the Mallorca Union party, which left the door open for the future voluntary integration of private properties in the Natural Park of the Serra, in consonance with the speech given by Maria Antonia Munar and the motion approved by the Palma Council, supported by both PP and UM.
DEBATE: What do you think about the Projected Law for the Ecotax? Find out, make an opinion, vote
Date of publication: 26/05/2000
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