Barcelona’s Partido Popular group has proposed cutting the city’s IBI property tax by up to 40%, with party leader Daniel Sirera saying the plan would ease pressure on residents, families and small businesses.
Sirera made the proposal on Monday, 8 June, shortly after thousands of Barcelona residents paid their second instalment of the municipal tax. He said the measure is “perfectly legal” and would not need prior legislative changes, while still allowing essential public services to be maintained.
He gave an example of the impact, saying an Eixample resident paying 1,050 euros in IBI would pay 658 euros instead. Sirera said the average annual saving would be around 400 euros per taxpayer, and argued that “behind every bill, there is a family struggling to make ends meet, a shopkeeper who works hard every morning, or a self-employed person fighting to keep their business open”.
Sirera also criticised Mayor Jaume Collboni, accusing him of breaking a promise to freeze municipal taxes for families and small and medium-sized enterprises. He said IBI had risen by about 3% for many Barcelona residents, and questioned why people in Barcelona pay more IBI than those in Madrid.
To help pay for the cut, Sirera said the council should reduce what he called “dispensable” spending. He named the Centre for New Masculinities, the “District 11-Gaza” initiative, a Catalonia-Palestine football match, the “Gaza Flotilla” project, international cooperation projects and subsidies to left-leaning entities at Caspe, 43. He also said he wants to stop 600,000 euros being used for a party planned for the inauguration of Las Ramblas.
Sirera said he wants a Barcelona with “more security, more housing, and fewer taxes”, and argued that lowering tax pressure would make the city more competitive for living, starting a business and raising a family. For more local politics coverage, see our Community and Sport pages.
Originally published by Metrópoli Abierta - Urban Life. Read original article.
