Now that the elections are coming, the politicians are back to filling their mouths with agriculture, ideas for the farm or the complex, fairs, etc., but the reality is different. The truth is that farmers from, for example, certain parts of Tenerife pay less taxes than those from Lanzarote. Wine grapes in Tenerife are taxed less than those in Lanzarote. Also, bananas on the pointed island are taxed less than the vines here. But why do farmers in Tenerife have this and other advantages? Surely, because an insularist party like ATI, which leads CC, imposes its law in the Canary Islands and takes care of its own, and, meanwhile, who defends Lanzarote?
There is a net yield index that at the state level taxes the profit from agricultural activities. It is established as a general index for all of Spain at 0.32 in the case of wine grapes with designation of origin. That is, for every thousand euros generated from production, income tax is paid on 320 euros. Fixed like this for all of Spain, it is clearly unfair because the production conditions, the amount of surface area to be cultivated, nor the characteristics are the same, or even similar, everywhere. Comparing the cultivation of a hectare of land for vines in La Rioja or in Castilla with one in La Geria is absurd, because our production is much lower and with a considerably higher cost. Furthermore, comparing protected areas such as those on this island, where you cannot work with mechanical means or put in irrigation, with unprotected soils and kilometer-long extensions, is unfair.
Perhaps, because this comparison between the different territories of the State is impossible, it is understood that there should be exceptions to the rule established by the Ministry of Finance, which has established downward revisions of said tax index for different areas in which it wants to reward the development of the primary sector or due to the difficulties of the same. Thus, for example, on May 4, 2017, an order from the Ministry of Finance corrected said indices to be applied for the 2016 financial year, going from 0.32 to 0.06, in certain areas, including Lanzarote. A significant decrease in the tax that was a great help to farmers, generating, therefore, greater interest in wine-growing activity, in addition to being a further incentive to maintain a landscape that is fundamental to our tourist image. That was, therefore, good news for the vine sector on the island.
But curiously, just over a year ago, on April 2, 2018, Ministerial Order HFP/335/2018, of March 28, was published, which came to set the indices for the 2017 financial year, and what is our surprise: the index for vines in areas of Tenerife is only revised downwards!; said wine sector in Lanzarote, almost the only agricultural product with economic interest, being forgotten and aggrieved. Once again, the political power based in Tenerife or in the capital islands despises our land and our people. In Madrid they are unaware of the reality of the Canary Islands and, of course, that of Lanzarote, and in Tenerife those of ATI-CC only go to their own interests. While this is happening, where are the Parliamentarians of Lanzarote, where is the Canary Government to defend all the islands, or does it only work for Tenerife, even, where is the Regulatory Council of the Designation of Origin Vinos de Lanzarote to raise its voice, and finally, where is the Cabildo of Lanzarote. In short, who defends the interests of Lanzarote, where are our politicians.
UNIDOS POR LANZAROTE (UPL) asks all our political representatives, Parliamentarians and President of the Cabildo, assuming that they truly represent Lanzarote and not only their parties, to demand before the Ministry of Finance the pertinent correction and that, at least, equalize the tax that is made on this island with the one that is determined for Tenerife or for any other Canary Island. And while we're at it, it wouldn't hurt to fight to establish a total exemption for Lanzarote in a fixed and definitive way, and so as not to be selfish, such exemption should be extended to all agricultural activity on the islands, as the best way to incentivize and promote the development of the agricultural sector of this land, giving options to a source of production and wealth alternative to the tourist monoculture that we have. The Canary agricultural and livestock production is small, of very particular products that do not represent competition for the rest of the State, but for the Canary Islands it is vital to have a developed and quality agricultural and livestock production. In this case, fewer taxes would mean the strengthening of the primary sector, creation of jobs, recovery of land and return to having in agriculture and livestock a source of wealth for this land.
By Manuel Cabrera Cabrera, independent candidate for the Cabildo for UPL.
