Sustainable Tourism Law

THE TAXATION OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN SPAIN 343 the one they want to tackle, as a result of being special taxes, and therefore taxing matters already subject to other general taxes. A possible influence is that in the comparative landscape there have been more environmental taxes, particularly those seeking them for ecotourism purposes, for example taxing disposable packaging to the lodging industry, to the same hotels, the noise generated by landing planes to finance the insulation of houses near airports, air traffic to encourage transport by train, or the so-called “bathroom” tax that taxes toilets, especially in hotels and whose collection go to the elimination of sewage 12 . But the defence of this type of taxes cannot only be sustained from the perspective of the purposes motivating them. Environmental taxation, and the objectives of tourism sustainability, if pursued within the scope of the taxes, cannot be separated from the principles of tax justice: generality, equality, economic capacity and progressivity but not confiscation. When we talk about environmental purposes, we cannot disregard another type of taxation that does not constitute either general taxation or special taxation on tourism, but which does have some influence. We are thinking, for example, of the toll rates, which can have a considerable impact on the movement of people and vehicles, and that therefore intervene in reducing the emission levels of polluting gases. This was the case in Portugal, where the generalization of toll roads on motorways entailed the loss of mobility of tourists and vehicles, as indicated by the trade associations of the tourism sector. The regulation of the rates can also include extrafiscal objectives, which are not insignificant for the attainment of objectives of environmental and tourist sustainability 13 . As can be seen in the rate of decongestion of London, as a toll is enabled in certain hours and zones of the city; to which recently another toll has been added – which incidentally proved to be quite controversial –, the “T-Charge”, for the most 12 They are some of the environmental taxes that are cited in the work of the WTO La Fiscalidad del Turismo. Hacia un Justo Equilibrio, op. cit., pág. 43, and which had been applied in the year 1998, when the conclusions that are collected are signed; although we do not know its current validity. In this report it is noted that in Germany an environmental tax on disposable packaging was applied at that time for the sectors of the accommodation industry, which even taxed the residences of the elderly, although it exempted the fast food establishments where it is consumed in situ. It also includes the existing environmental tax in Tunisia to hotels, or the French tax, in force since 1993, on the noise caused by aircrafts that land at airports to finance the cost of soundproofing the houses. The work also discusses the Norwegian tax established in April 1995 that was imposed on air traffic between Oslo and four regional airports to stimulate the use of the train; or the tax of the Eastern Cape province in South Africa for “bathrooms”, which taxed toilets, in particular, those of hotels and accommodation, requiring payment annually. 13 See for more detail, GARCÍA FRÍAS, M. Á.: “Los fines extrafiscales en las tasas” en Tasas y precios públicos en el ordenamiento jurídico español: Ponencias y comunicaciones españolas: XV Jornadas Latinoamericanas de Derecho Tributario , Caracas, 1991, p. 171-184.