The Government of the Canary Islands will extend the 99.9% refund of the special fuel tax to professional transporters, farmers and ranchers, as announced today in the Parliament of the Canary Islands by Vice President Román Rodríguez.
The Executive gives continuity to a measure approved on March 25, with retroactive effect to March 1, which consisted of extending the refund of the special tax from 68% to 99.9%, until July 31.
Rodríguez explained this Tuesday that the economic circumstances that motivated that decision not only remain, but have worsened, "which means that we must continue to protect the sectors most exposed to the increase in prices with tax measures of a specific and temporary nature."
The vice president recalled that fuel is taxed at 0% IGIC, while in mainland Spain the VAT on this product reaches 21%.
"We are facing a problem of global scope, which does not mean that the Government of the Canary Islands does not have to adopt measures to maintain the purchasing power of those who are suffering the most from inflation," said Rodríguez, who pointed out that the increase in the refund was agreed with the transport employers.
The partial refund of the Special Tax on Petroleum-Derived Fuels is included in its own regulatory law, which dates back to July 1986. It specifies that farmers and transporters will be entitled to a partial refund of the tax on gasoline and professional diesel used by vehicles that are assigned to the development of agriculture, livestock and transport activities and whose data are duly registered in the Census of Farmers and Transporters.
The tax is currently 26.5 cents per liter in the case of gasoline and 22.2 cents in the case of diesel. Of these amounts, the Government has been refunding 68% to transporters, farmers and ranchers since 1986, a refund that is now practically full.
There will be no tax on kerosene
Likewise, the vice president has also insisted in another parliamentary appearance that the Canary Islands will be exempt from any tax on fuel that the European Union may determine for air transport, since this was determined in the process of integrating the archipelago into the European Union.
"Our integration into Europe was different from the rest of the State and Directive 2008/118, which regulates special taxes, establishes in its article 5 that the Canary Islands are excluded from its scope of application," explained the vice president, who added that we are also exempt from the application of VAT.
Rodríguez specified that, in this specific case, it is not a question of adapting European policies in the islands as a consequence of their status as an outermost region, but because of their particular integration into the community club.
On the other hand, the vice president assured that the Canary Islands has taken an important, although not definitive, step so that flights between the islands and with the rest of the European Economic Area are not subject to the trading of emission rights, thanks to the agreement adopted a few days ago by the European Parliament. "The decision is now pending the opinion of the so-called European trilogue," he said.
