The Sale of Hotel Sol in Puerto de Naos Generates €600k for La Palma’s Municipal Coffers

27 October 2018 – El Día

The sale of Hotel Sol located in the tourist town of Puerto de Naos, in Los Llanos de Aridane (La Palma, Canary Islands) generated almost €600,000 (specifically, €597,215) for the municipal coffers by way of profit, according to reports presented in the most recent plenary session.

The sale was undertaken as part of a larger operation. Specifically, the hotel chain Meliá Hotels International sold three hotels in Sevilla, La Palma and Fuerteventura for €73.4 million to the real estate company Atom Hoteles Socimi, although it continues to operate them under a rental arrangement.

The one-off income obtained by the Town Hall was one of the arguments presented by the spokesman for Izquierda Unida, Felipe Ramon, to oppose the elimination of the tax, which each year generates around €100,000 for the municipal coffers. The case of Hotel Sol was exceptional, although it is also true that “if this tax had not been in force, the Town Hall would not have collected a single euro for the operation”, as the leader of IUC indicated.

The left-wing party rejects not only the suppression of the tax on property gains but also considers the decrease in the rate of IBI, approved in the plenary session, to be premature.

IUC considers that lowering the IBI “without first conducting a study and together with the other fiscal ordinances” proposing its modification “now when it was not scheduled for 2018”, represents “the start of the election campaign for the PP” (…).

Original story: El Día

Translation: Carmel Drake