The negotiation of the tax ordinances is one of the few municipal matters in which, year after year, the groups that make up the plenary strive to renew through political agreement. The matter is not minor: the taxes paid by citizens and businesses. The government of Jaume Collboni aims to freeze the tax burden on the general population. And to increase the one related to the tourism sector. It will be so or it will not be, since it is a demand from ERC and Barcelona en Comú for the overall proposal to move forward. The deputy mayor of Economy, Jordi Valls, proposed this Friday a double increase, of the IBI for large hotels and leisure venues and for short-stay cruise passengers.
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For the former, the City Council plans an increase in the property tax from 1.17% to 1.3%, the maximum allowed by law, which would bring the city an extra 4.5 million euros, added to the 4.5 million already earned last year, when this item already rose from the previous 1%. This would only apply to establishments with a cadastral value exceeding 5.2 million euros. It is also expected that the surcharge charged to people arriving on ships that stay less than 12 hours in the port of Barcelona will increase. As with the tourist tax for staying in the Catalan capital, the growth will be gradual.
It is currently five euros per person and in 2027 it would be 12 euros. But it does not end there: 16 euros in 2028, 20 euros and 24 euros in 2030, when the ceiling would be reached for now. This would generate almost 24 million euros more for the municipal coffers by the end of the decade, with an average annual increase of about 4.3 million euros. “There will be no tax increase for families, but there will be for the tourism sector, so that it contributes more to the city’s maintenance expenses,” Valls said.
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If nothing prevents it, the tourist tax for staying in the city will also continue its already agreed increasing course with the rest of the left-wing forces. It would be six euros per night, up to the eight-euro cap set for 2029. All this will be addressed next Tuesday during the extraordinary commission set to address the 2027 tax ordinances. If the script of previous years is followed, the PSC will only find shelter in Esquerra and BComú.
