Sustainable Tourism Law

350 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM LAW Autonomous Communities 32 . There are also those who consider that any negative effect of the market, especially when there is a saturation, is regulated through prices rather than other environmental and tourism taxes, that is, tourism sustainability, staying impartial with the tax benefits of taxes levied on tourism 33 , in a special perspective. At a legal level, some prominent members of the Spanish doctrine think of it, including RUBIO DE URQUÍA 34 , BOKOBO MOICHE 35 and ADAME MARTÍNEZ 36 . This is also, of course, the philosophy underlying the only valid Spanish experiences, where people are almost always taxed in their VAT 37 for the stays in lodging companies: the Catalan Tax on Stays in Tourist Establishments and the Tax on Tourist Stays of the Balearic Islands, derived from the growing financial decentralization, both in Spain and in other comparative experiences, where the imposition of tourism has a marked prominence 38 . 32 We understand that it is the general idea that underlies the study of ÁLAMO CERRILLO, R.: La importancia del sector turístico… , op. cit., p. 7 a 38; and very particularly of work La Fiscalidad del Turismo. Hacia un Justo Equilibrio, op. cit., p. 7, concluding that tourism is very sensitive to the price policy, on which taxes have an impact. In such a study, on p. 14, the influence of prices is strongly affirmed, especially in certain tourism: “El sector turístico es sumamente sensible a los precios. Esto es especialmente cierto del turismo vacacional vía paquetes organizados, en los que el consumidor tiene una considerable gama de elección entre los diferentes destinos y tipos de vacación”. They cite the analysis carried out at the time by Deloitte and Touche, at the initiative of the British Tourist Authority, who pointed out that for holiday tourism the price elasticity was -1.5%, which is translated, according to the study, in which a reduction of 10 % can lead to a 15% increase in tourist demand. Later (page 20 of the study) clarifies that the elasticity is pronounced in vacation trips, although for business trips it is relatively inelastic to prices. 33 GODOY SABÁN, A.: “Las nuevas tasas medioambientales y su incidencia en el sector turístico”, AA.VV .: Seminario sobre Fiscalidad del Turismo , Organización Mundial del Turismo, Madrid, 1997, p. 7. 34 RUBIO DE URQUÍA, J. I.: “La reforma de los tributos locales: posibilidad de una fiscalidad sobre el turismo”, Tributos Locales, n. 17, April 2002, p. 91-92: “basta con convenir que el turismo constituye una manifestación de capacidad económica, una fuente de riqueza susceptible de integrar la materia imponible objeto de alguna forma de imposición”, that being “sometida, como cualquier otro sector de actividad, a la imposición general sobre la renta, a la imposición general sobre el consumo, etc., parece bastante claro que la fiscalidad sobre el turismo debe configurarse como en el ámbito de la fiscalidad especial”. 35 BOKOBOMOICHE, S.: “La fiscalidad de las prestaciones turísticas. La posibilidad de que las Comunidades Autónomas establezcan la “tasa turística ”, Civitas-R.E.D.F., n. 102, April-June, 1999, p. 258, Maintains that “la pernoctación onerosa en un establecimiento fuera del lugar de residencia manifiesta una riqueza susceptible de ser gravada, aunque (…) también es cierto que las condiciones en que se realiza no son iguales para todos los viajeros. De ahí la importancia de la gradación del impuesto en función de la categoría del alojamiento elegido para pernoctar”. This same author, on p. 248, considers shows as a specific consumption that can be considered luxury. 36 ADAME MARTÍNEZ, F.: “Turismo y financiación municipal: Estudio sobre posibles nuevos tributos locales vinculados al turismo”, Tributos Locales, n. 13/2013, p. 57, believes that a hypothetical local imposition on the stays would not pose special problems regarding the principle of economic capacity, provided that these taxes are well designed. 37 We say “almost always” because the Taxes on stays come subject to tax the possible free accommodations, being a general criterion in the VAT. that of the onerousness, except suppositions of self-consumption. 38 G.-SCANU: La tassazione sui flussi …, op. cit., p. 339.