The demonstration called throughout the Canary Islands for Saturday, April 20 to demand sustainable tourism and a better distribution of wealth in the Canary Islands has brought back the famous ecotax to public debate. This tax is nothing more than charging hotel guests an extra amount that ends up in public coffers, a practice already in place in regions like the Balearic Islands or Catalonia, now under discussion in the Canary Islands due to the protest scheduled on the 20th.
This movement has brought back to the political and business debate the suitability of implementing this tax. Taking as an example the revenues for the Canary Islands’ public coffers could be approximately one hundred million Euros per year. To put it into perspective, the Government of the Canary Islands approved a budget of 10,180 million Euros in 2023, the Tenerife Island Council has a budget of 1,041 million Euros, and the Santa Cruz City Council of 374 million Euros.
This debate has inspired the cartoonist Padylla, who in his strip this Tuesday has portrayed the main political leaders holding different signs about the ecotax. In the first sign are Román Rodríguez (New Canaries), Ángel Víctor Torres (PSOE), and Noemí Santana (United We Can), with a sign saying ‘Now yes to the ecotax (because when we were in government, we forgot, for whatever reason). This is a clear reference that none of the three figures decided to implement the ecotax when they were part of the previous government.
The second sign is held by Fernando Clavijo, dressed in his backpack with the colours of the Canary Islands flag, the current president of the islands, with a sign that reads: “Yes to the ecotax” and underneath, a bit smaller: expiration date April 20.
The last to appear is Manuel Domínguez, current vice president of the Government and leader of the PP in the Canary Islands, who has been openly against this measure from the start. His sign reads: “Yes to the (and in smaller print: hotel business and whatever it says about) the ecotax.”
This isn’t Padylla’s first comic about the April 20 movement and the politicians’ reactions. On the 12th, he published a comic where Fernando Clavijo is seen speaking with the hotel business association. The hotel boss threatens to fire him, to which Clavijo responds: “I don’t work for you,” and the businessman retorts: “That’s what you think.”
