Sustainable Tourism Law

338 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM LAW activity, even if not always. This is what the tourism laws, born in the heart of the Autonomous Communities (CC.AA. ), are mainly dedicated to. These are the responsibility, according to art. 149.1. 18th of the Spanish Constitution (CE), for the promotion and management of tourism, and the legal framework where tourism must be developed within the Community 2 . For Castilla y León, the tourist activities regulated in the aforementioned law are tourist accommodation establishments, catering establishments, active tourism activities (recreation, sports or adventure), tourist intermediation activities (travel agencies and central reservation) and tourist guides. There are other activities linked to tourism that the law, at least that of Castilla y León, does not incorporate as tourist activities. We are mainly thinking about the sector linked to the transport of travellers and their luggage, or in receiving admission to shows (such as theatres and circuses) or bullfighting festivities. Note also that not even the company linked to an activity legally considered as tourism is aimed exclusively at tourists, in their role as recipients and customers. While it is difficult to completely separate tourism from what it is not, it seems a complicated task to achieve a specific tax regime for tourism linked to the tourist activity generating taxable events, demonstrating its economic capacity and taxed by the different tax figures established. Being rigorous, by “taxation of tourism” we refer to the taxes that affect to some degree, or in general, the tourism business and tourism, but which can tax events unrelated to tourism motivations; hence, any tax policy on tourism must be carried out with extreme caution. As indicated, taxes on tourism may fall, in legal terms, either on the tourist or the tourism company 3 . These are usually direct taxes based on income or wealth (for example taxes on large commercial establishments required in the 2 As it explains, LAGO MONTERO, J. M.: La reordenación de la hacienda local en la segunda descentralización. PICAS y pacto local en Castilla y León, Thomson Reuters, Aranzadi, Cizur Menor, 2013, p. 86-87, the environment, tourism and urban planning are strong examples of overlapping normative, administrative and financial competences, pointing out that the state and autonomous legislator should pay particular attention to them in the coming years. They concur, he explains, “... disorderly the normative and administrative powers of the three administrations involved, state, autonomous and local. The concurrence of local interest with the regional and state interest, and even the community interest, makes it difficult to organize the possible competencies of each one, which must respond, in our opinion, to the prevalence of each one’s interest and to their administrative capacity and financial”. 3 Classification attended by the study La Fiscalidad del Turismo. Hacia un Justo Equilibrioin the World Tourism Organization and the Business Council (CEOMT), Madrid, 1998, p. 17. It is stated in the same that taxes directly charged on tourists are those that “appear on the bill that is delivered to the tourist”, while those charged to the tourist company “this is part of the costs of their business”. But, as noted, it is a classification based on who legally bears the tax, but does not allude to economic repercussions, to which we refer below in the text.