"The tourist tax is simply tourismophobia and it will end up affecting employment," said the mayor
Toni Pérez claims in the Executive Forum a percentage of the VAT generated by tourism for destinations
The mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, claimed in Madrid that tourist destinations receive a percentage of the VAT generated by the tourism sector as a "simple, practical and effective" solution to the under-financing that these types of municipalities have. Pérez exposed this proposal within the informative breakfast that he starred in the Executive Forum, in which he has been presented by the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida.
Toni Pérez indicated that it would be "a percentage of the VAT that we pay where we consume" so that "whatever type of municipality you are, in this parameter we have a quantifiable activity". As he stated, "it is always time to claim it because there are many fronts on which to act in a city where neighbors, residents, and tourists make up a social conglomerate to which they provide the best services."
In this sense, the mayor recalled that Benidorm's contribution to the economy of the Valencian Community was 8,900 million in 2019. "For that alone, and because we know how to manage, Benidorm deserves more attention and more supra-municipal dedication" he highlighted.
Once again, Toni Pérez has been opposed to the implementation of the tourist tax, of which he said "it is a new tax that points to us, that penalizes regulated activity, which generates employment and well-being, which affects productivity and to the competitiveness of the sector, whose approach is born from an ideological 'tic' that is in the antipodes of my thinking”. In the opinion of the mayor of Benidorm "deep down it is simply tourism phobia", which "will end up affecting employment and our land, which is a land of opportunities".
About financing, he insisted that currently "there is little, incomplete and inadequate attention in state and regional legislation towards tourist municipalities" and in that "municipal grievance ranking" the mayor lamented that Benidorm "unfortunately is in the lead ”. For this reason, he reiterated that "an urgent financial adjustment between population and needs is urgent." As an example, Pérez cited that the city receives 18 million euros from the State, which represents 15% of the municipal budget "but they are 30 million less than what would correspond to it in purity."
Link with Toni Pérez's speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVRjDasmoJA