For years, tourists, long-term residents and resident expatriates were welcome on the Canary Islands. After all, they bring money to the islands, and not too little! But that’s apparently no longer enough for the locals. At first, voices were raised to limit tourism. Be it with taxes or by limiting the offers of holiday accommodation, the so-called Viviendas Vacacionales, and imposing additional, sometimes harassing requirements on their providers.
The next target were long-term residents, who usually arrive over the winter for between a few weeks and six months. They are not (tax) residents here and, if certain circles have their way, should no longer be allowed to purchase residential property in the future.
And now, finally, the ex-president of the Cabildo Insular of Tenerife and candidate of the political party Coalición Canaria for the Council of Europe, Carlos Alonso, is also taking aim at the emigrants. They should be subject to “a kind of environmental tax”. Yes, of course, we foreigners also need water and produce waste. But we resident foreigners are also subject to tax and not only pay a relatively high real estate tax (IBI) but also pay income taxes, for example, on our pensions, which we receive from our home countries, and which have a not-to-be-underestimated influence on the gross domestic product of the islands.
So the locals no longer want us tax-paying, economy-supporting, money-making foreigners. On the other hand, entire boatloads of asylum seekers from Africa are being fished out of the water in the Canary Islands’ coastal areas every week, with exorbitant costs for the asylum system, which they will never ever pay back, neither directly nor indirectly through taxes. But that’s just a side note!
On the other hand, (tax) resident foreigners now make up 22 percent of the Canary Islands population. If you also include non-resident long-term stayers, this value is likely to be significantly higher. So it’s time for us to have a voice, to become a political force on the Canary Islands.
After all, EU citizens in Spain have the right to vote at local level, meaning they can stand for election to local parliaments on the one hand and vote for well-intentioned candidates on the other. So every community now needs committed residents from the European Union to come together and run candidates in the next elections in 2027. Preferably under a multinational umbrella organization, a Canary Expats Party (CEP)
Christof Gonzenbach (Gran Canaria)
[email protected]
