SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 27 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The plenary session of the Cabildo de Tenerife has rejected this Friday, with the votes of CC, PP and Cs and the abstention of the PSOE, to urge the Government of the Canary Islands to implement a tourist eco-tax at the proposal of Sí Podemos, which only managed to obtain the support of the non-attached director, María José Belda.
David Carballo (Sí Podemos) has pointed out that it is “undeniable” that tourism is the “engine” of the island’s economy but it has an “obsolete” model that promotes “precariousness” of work, the “destruction” of the territory and the consumption of natural resources.
He has said that it also presents difficulties in distributing wealth and understands that the eco-tax is a way to “alleviate the effects” of tourism and invest in conservation and sustainability, as is done in other tourist destinations.
Belda has recognized that the debate is “sterile” because the Cabildo does not have the powers to implement it and also points out that more analysis is needed on the carrying capacity of the islands, while making Carballo ugly that the motion “has been taken from a drawer”.
He has pointed out that even “time has passed” to put it into operation because there is a need to raise funds to help offset the effects of tourism and he has wondered if the purple coalition is also going to break the ‘Pact of Flowers’ after the proposal being rejected in Parliament “or only agreements are broken in other institutions”, in reference to the Cabildo.
Manuel Fernández (PP) has indicated that tourism “feeds many people” and does not understand that Sí Podemos defends the most vulnerable families and now promotes a measure that generates “more unemployment and misery.”
He has pointed out that some 300 million a year are collected in the Canary Islands alone in the tourist IGIC and the ecotax will barely reach 100 million and has also warned that its implementation would increase the price of tourist packages.
He has indicated that the citizens are already “fried to rates and taxes” and maintained that the proposal is a “probe balloon” linked to the elections.
LAURA CASTRO: GOOD MEASURE, BUT WITH CONSENSUS
The insular director of Tourism, Laura Castro, believes that the eco-tax is a “good measure” but believes that it should come from a rigorous debate and “consensus” with institutions and operators in the sector and that it be based on “planning” and legal feasibility.
Although he has recognized that the Balearic Islands ecotax has given good results, it has also entailed “weaknesses” such as that the municipalities have had to face more costs in services and infrastructures or the increase in prices and in the case of Extremadura, even canceled by the Constitutional Court in the case of transport.
Diana Mora, from the Nationalist Group, has denied that tourism generates “poverty”, on the contrary, it represents 40% of direct employment in the archipelago, and has not yet recovered the level of income it had before the pandemic.
He has indicated that this motion is a “toast to the sun” because not even in Parliament, with the government partners of Sí Podemos, did they move it forward, for what he understands is an “electoralist proposal”.
For Mora, it is also necessary to “focus” on the incessant increase in the population of the islands and has wondered if residents consume more natural and energy resources than tourists. “They just want to continue collecting and fattening the coffers and then not manage,” Carballo snapped.
Enrique Arriaga, spokesman for Cs and vice president of the Cabildo, has pointed out that there are more and more green taxes in tourism that make the destination less competitive, so he understands that “it is not time to put sticks in the wheels” to the activity. “It’s nonsense,” he pointed out.
