Sustainable Tourism Law

THE TAXATION OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN SPAIN 339 Autonomous Communities of Catalonia, Aragón and Asturias) 4 . There are also indirect taxes, based on consumption (for example, taxes on tourist stays, required in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands). However, from an economic point of view, nothing prevents that even the taxes that fall legally on the tourism business may to some extent impact economically (economic impact) tourists, as final recipients of tourist services and connected with the business purpose of tourism. However, the elasticity of the tourist demand and the high competition of the operators working in the sector surely prevent the full economic repercussion of those taxes, in which the tax burden falls on the tourist industry without obligation of legal repercussion. As we have said, irrespective of who should legally bear the taxes impacting tourism, the elasticity of tourism demands and the high competitiveness of the sector will likely lead to the real distribution of tourist taxes between the client and the tourism industry, reducing to some degree the benefit of this. Therefore, we think it is difficult to design a tax regime for tourism. And if we intended to create one, how would it come to play? A hypothetical tax regime for tourism should be oriented to treat favourably those who perform taxable events linked to tourism activities? Or on the contrary, those who carry out a tourism activity demonstrate a greater economic capacity that tolerates specific or special tax exactions? Such purposes would not always fit perfectly from a perspective looking at equality and economic capacity, provided in art. 31 C.E., should that be the case. The willingness to design a tax regime for tourism is also hampered by the fact that there are no clear positions from a scientific point of view: Is it consistent to defend applying reduced rates in the VAT of tourist services? On the other hand, should we commit to special taxation associated with tourist activities, such as tourist accommodation? The taxation of tourism can be arbitrated from different perspectives. Of course, the most important one is the general view, which subjects the tourism sector as a producer of certain taxable events, as taxed by common taxes that subject income, wealth and consumption to taxation, that is, generators of situations and budgets taxed by taxes that affect the generality of citizens-taxpayers. 4 The problems of constitutionality of the Catalan tax on large commercial establishments were mainly focused on a possible overlap of this with the Tax on Economic Activities (IAE), as a local tax levied on the mere exercise of business, professional or artistic activity, although a subsidiary form alleged overlap with the Tax on Real Property (IBI). Ruling 122/2012, of June 5, 2012, determined that it was a tax with extrafiscal purpose whose taxable event did not overlap the IAE, nor with the IBI because it seems that the owner of a large establishment does not have what it takes to match the property.