SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Feb. 1 (EUROPE PRESS) –
The promoters of the REF Manifesto have asked the State Government to adapt the fiscal measures of the Canary Islands Economic and Fiscal Regime to “avoid legal insecurity, the loss of companies and, therefore, the loss of jobs” in the Canary Islands.
This was stated at a press conference by Orlando Luján Mascareño, delegate of the Study Office of the Spanish Association of Tax Advisors (AEDAF); Salvador Miranda Calderín, director of the REF Chair, and Samuel Cruz Palenzuela, dean of the Official College of Mercantile and Business Graduates of Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Orlando Luján explained that since April 2020 they have been waiting for important issues related to the REF to be clarified and resolved, including the relaxation of the deadlines for the materialization of the Canary Islands Investment Reserve (RIC), which, if not produced, “It would mean the return of significant amounts to the Administration, by the self-employed and companies, which would not be invested in the Archipelago.”
As he said, “after the loss of more than 6,000 million euros in GDP in the Archipelago, the Canary Islands cannot afford the loss of investments that sustain the business fabric and employment.”
For this reason, they request that the legislator establish “categorically” that companies that have stopped their activity due to unexpected causes are not affected by tax incentives, said Salvador Miranda, for whom the new interpretation of the Ministry of Finance also affects the Canarian economy. Treasury that leaves out the companies that carry out triangular trade operations in the Canary Islands Special Zone (ZEC), “which leads to the loss of international companies, of jobs and discourages other companies from coming to the Canary Islands.”
The promoters of the REF Manifesto recognize that some changes have been made since 2020, such as deductions for the audiovisual sector, but “many of the issues that concern the economic fabric of the Islands have not gone to the bottom, not only have they not appropriate fiscal measures to the current economic reality of the Canary Islands, but many aspects of the regulations are not clear enough and generate a lot of uncertainty”, they say.
In this sense, Luján explained that there are many companies that could invest using mechanisms such as the RIC, if the regulatory framework were clarified and adapted, providing it with legal certainty, and others could stop doing so if they fear ending up arguing in court. And, adds Luján, “although the judges may finally agree with the businessman, it may take more than ten years for it.”
The representatives of the dozens of institutions and entities that have signed the REF Manifesto will try to meet both with the President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, and with the Ministry’s new Treasury Secretary, Héctor Izquierdo. “If we do not have legal certainty, we endanger our companies, employment and the economy of the Canary Islands,” they say.
The press conference was also attended by the territorial delegate of the AEDAF, Jaime Cabrera; the president of the Association of Tax Advisors of the Canary Islands (AAFC), Juan Luis Alayón García; and the Dean of the Official College of Economists of Las Palmas, Alcibiades Trancho Lemes and Jose Luís Casajuana, Dean of the College of Economists of Tenerife.
