The Minister of Finance of the Government of the Canary Islands, Matilde Asián, has defended the application of the AIEM (Arbitrio sobre las Importaciones y Entrega de Mercancías en Canarias - Tax on Imports and Delivery of Goods in the Canary Islands) to imports, has ruled out that it affects the price of the shopping basket in the case of large supermarkets and has advocated for its continuity to protect local production.
Asián responded in this way in a parliamentary committee to the Vox deputy Javier Nieto, who denounced that the AIEM is the local equivalent to the tariffs announced by the United States and that everyone denounces: "If the tariffs are imposed by another country and a president that I dislike are bad, and if we impose them they are good".
For Javier Nieto, the AIEM, which is applied to the import of products that can compete with local production with tax rates between 5% and 15% in general and that reaches 25% in some cases, contributes to placing the shopping basket in the Canary Islands among the most expensive in Spain, "curiously" 15% above the average according to the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU).
The Vox representative considered that this type of tariff burdens the pockets of Canarian consumers with the cost of a supposed protection of Canarian products, which "is a contradiction".
It is intended to "promote the local product, but what seems to be happening is that we are increasing the price of the product for the consumer", added Nieto, who also pointed out that, according to the OCU, articles that are not produced in the Canary Islands and others that are not produced in sufficient quantity to supply the market are also being taxed.
For Javier Nieto, behind maintaining the AIEM there may be "other interests" unrelated to protecting local production, and he considered it very relevant that the collection for the AIEM represents 10.74% of the Canarian financing block for the Autonomous Community, money that comes directly "from the pockets of Canarian consumers".
The counselor has replied that the tariffs imposed by the United States, a large country with an open market, cannot be compared with those imposed by the Canary Islands to "protect" local production in a "fragile, isolated and small" territory and that entails "added costs".
Asián explained that before September 30, a report will be sent to the European Commission to adapt the AIEM rates to the changing needs of the economy and to local productions in which there are relevant production costs due to being produced in the Canary Islands.
"No product that is not produced in the Canary Islands can be taxed by the AIEM", assured the Minister of Finance, and if it is detected it will be removed from the list.
Regarding the influence of the AIEM on the shopping basket, Asián cited a study by the Canarian Institute of Statistics (Istac) according to which prices in large supermarkets, among which she cited Mercadona, Lidl and El Corte Inglés, "are identical in the Canary Islands and in the rest of the national territory".
So, although it is necessary to maintain a constant update of the list of products so as not to tax those that do not have local production, the AIEM has "its reason for being", concluded Matilde Asián.
