The Valencian left shakes Holy Week with its tourist tax of up to 2 euros that the sector rejects

• Tourism Valencia opens at a rate: Does a tax affect the flow of travelers?

In the middle of the tourist campaign, with practically the entire sector against it and with the opposition clamoring for a reduction in taxes.

Despite the scenario, the three left-wing partners that support the Valencian Government (PSOE, Compromís and United We Can) registered this Monday in the Cortes, coinciding with the start of Holy Week, the

.

A new regional tax that has only aroused the interest of the city of Valencia and to which even the socialists were reluctant.

Such has been the rejection between the hotel management and mayors of all political stripes that the proposal for the so-called Valencian Tax on Tourist Stays remains in practice in the hands of the consistories.

Although it is autonomous, the tax is born from the outset with a

from its approval (it will not be applied, therefore, until the next legislature at least) and a

discount on the full fee.

That is, the municipalities may establish a surcharge that "will consist of a percentage of the full fee of up to a maximum of 100%", as stated in the bill.

The tax will be levied

"when they make a stopover at a port in the Valencian Community", with rates ranging

.

For example, one, two or three-star hostels and rural houses will charge the minimum rate, while the maximum is reserved only for stays in five-star or four-star hotels.

Cruise ships and tourist yachts will be charged a fee of 1.5 euros.

Tourists will pay "at the beginning of each stay" in the same establishments.

The reason for this progressivity is explained by the authors of the tax in the explanatory memorandum of the text: "Taxes the economic capacity shown by staying in a tourist establishment, doing so progressively depending on the category."

Even so, the

, which even launched a campaign against the tourist tax, accused the left-wing deputies of living in

. "

In other words, according to businessmen, they have not taken into account the serious crisis that is dragging down the tourism industry, which aspired precisely this Easter to return to pre-pandemic hotel occupancy figures.

Aware of the discomfort, the president of the Generalitat,

, affirmed yesterday that the tourist tax "is not an eccentricity", but to admit that "another thing is that its application is now opportune".

"It will not be applied immediately," he assured.

The Socialists, in fact, have tried to stop the debate on the tax that they have promoted from Compromís and United We Can.

The person in charge of the Department of Tourism in the Valencian Government, the socialist Francesc Colomer, has not hesitated to directly oppose the rate.

The PP has already said that it will repeal it as soon as it governs, although its future application is presumed decaffeinated.

The bill uses the argument of the generalization of this tax in other countries to justify its implementation in the Valencian Community, which would be added in Spain to the other two regions with a tourist tax: the

.

"Among the countries of southern Europe, only Cyprus does not have a tax figure associated with tourism," says the text registered by the tripartite, whose majority in Parliament will allow it to move forward.

There are no calculations of how much money could be entered with the rate because the amounts that can be charged will depend on the municipalities that, in addition, will be able to modulate it depending on the high or low season.

Of course, in the Valencian tripartite you look at the neighboring communities, which in 2019 raised 196 million euros.

In the Valencian case, the income must revert to the

.

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