The Lanzarote Consumers Association (Aculanza) has prepared a draft appeal so that anyone who wants to can denounce through the organization the new garbage tax of the San Bartolomé City Council. A tax that Aculanza already considered "unfair" in its day, presenting allegations that were dismissed.
In the draft prepared by Aculanza, the organization recalls that in 1999 the Real Estate Tax in the municipality was raised by around 20 percent, incorporating the garbage collection fee into it. With this, Aculanza adds, this fee was eliminated, "since that tax was added to the IBI, although it was maintained for certain establishments where professional, industrial, commercial, artistic and service activities are carried out."
However, in October 2011, the San Bartolomé plenary session approved a new domestic garbage tax of 40 euros. A measure that Aculanza considers "abusive", understanding that it "duplicates" a fee that was already incorporated into the IBI.
Likewise, Aculanza considers that this rate has been established in a "totally arbitrary" manner, without taking into account family units and square meters, among other characteristics. In addition, it points out that the Regulatory Law of Local Treasuries establishes that the amount of fees "may not exceed as a whole the real or foreseeable cut of the service" and, in this case, it affirms that "there is no prior financial economic study" to its imposition, which justifies the expense and, therefore, the established amount.
Thus, Aculanza invites residents to denounce this new ordinance so that it is eliminated or, if necessary, the way in which the amount has been established is reviewed. For this, according to what they transfer from the association, they only need the approval of the neighbor and a copy of the corresponding paid receipt. The draft of the appeal can be found [on the website->http://aculanza.blogspot.com.es/] of the association.
"With the confidence of many, we will be able to put the municipal administration in its place. Enough of tax voracity and wanting that, from an assault on the pockets of the domestic economy, we cover services that should be guaranteed from correct management and administration", they conclude from Aculanza.
A "symbolic" rate
Precisely, in the plenary session held this Monday in San Bartolomé, the councilor of the PIL, Conchi Álvarez, asked about the challenges that have arrived against the new garbage tax. "Absolutely nothing has reached the City Council," says the mayor, María Dolores Corujo, in this regard.
"The demagoguery that has been created is because in its day, the Councilor of Finance or whoever did it, justified the tax increase saying that the garbage service was included there, but it is false, because a tax has nothing to do with a fee and in no case can they be united", points out Corujo, who says that she has been told so in "all the legal services requested and not only from the City Council".
Corujo also points out that the rate that has been imposed is "symbolic" and that it only represents "0.11 cents a day" for each neighbor. In fact, she assures that even the service is not covered with it, "which continues to be deficient." "We are going to see little by little how we can fix it," she says.
The mayor also insists that "San Bartolomé is the municipality that pays the least IBI, with a difference of up to 300 percent" with some municipalities on the island. "An average of 106 euros compared to 700 or 900 in the rest of the municipalities. We only approach Yaiza, which is about 370", says María Dolores Corujo, who also says that it is impossible to lower the IBI and compensate it in this way "because the law does not allow it." "The PP demands a new Values Report, but then we would go from 206 to 700 euros," she warns.
