Coalición Canaria (CC) Lanzarote y La Graciosa has achieved unanimous approval in the Parliament of the Canary Islands for the Non-Law Proposal (PNL) defended by the nationalist deputy and president of the Cabildo, Oswaldo Betancort, aimed at promoting the creation of new bonuses and tax incentives for agricultural and livestock producers in Lanzarote and La Graciosa.
The initiative, backed by all political groups in the Regional Parliament, represents a recognition of the effort and uniqueness of Lanzarote's primary sector, which carries out its activity in a territory unique in the world, declared by the FAO as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS).
The approved NLP contains two key proposals. Firstly, the Government of the Canary Islands is urged to establish an autonomous deduction in the Personal Income Tax (IRPF) aimed at farmers and ranchers who work in the traditional farming systems of Lanzarote - the jable, natural sand mulch, and artificial sand mulch - within the framework of the SIPAM territory.
Secondly, the State Government is asked to create a corrective index for "GIAHS territories" within the objective estimation system of the Personal Income Tax (IRPF), in order to recognize the higher additional costs and lower structural yields faced by Lanzarote producers compared to other areas of the country.
“We are not asking for privileges, we are asking for fiscal justice”
The Parliament of the Canary Islands has taken a decisive step towards a fairer tax framework for producers from Lanzarote. During his speech in Parliament, Oswaldo Betancort recalled that agriculture in Lanzarote "competes not only with the market, but with the wind, the lack of water, and an arid soil that only the intelligence of generations has managed to make fertile."
In the Spanish Parliament, the deputy for the Canarian Coalition of Lanzarote has argued that "producing in Lanzarote costs more and yields less," noting that "a hectare of potatoes grown under sand can produce barely 15 tons, while in other areas of Spain 50 tons are reached; or that a vineyard in La Geria yields 1,000 kilos compared to the 14,000 in other regions, and yet they are taxed the same."
"We are not asking for privileges, we are asking for fiscal justice," Betancort stressed. "It is not fair that those who work in extreme conditions pay the same taxes as those who produce ten times more under intensive irrigation."
The president of the Cabildo also noted that these measures are complemented by the new call for direct aid to the wine sector recently launched by the island institution, endowed with 800,000 euros and co-financed with the Government of the Canary Islands, based on objective criteria after a technical study with drone flights that allow precise calculation of the number and depth of the holes in La Geria. "This measure is not an expense, it is an investment in identity, because every euro destined to the fields of Lanzarote translates into protected landscape, living culture, and sustainability," he said.
“A victory for all who work the land”
For his part, the general secretary of the Canarian Coalition of Lanzarote, Pedro San Ginés, highlighted how the nationalist initiative has achieved the unanimous support of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, "in a proposal that transcends the economic aspect and represents an act of justice with the men and women of the countryside."
"This is a victory for all those who work the land with their hands, for those who continue to cultivate where many thought it was not possible," San Ginés pointed out. "Coalición Canaria will continue to defend, in all institutions, fiscal, social, and environmental policies that protect the way of life, the landscape, and the identity of Lanzarote and La Graciosa."
