The full session of the Barcelona City Council rejected this Friday the central proposal for tax ordinances for 2027 as it failed to achieve a majority. However, it did approve two measures regarding tourist surcharges, including an increase for cruise passengers.
The flagship proposal of Jaume Collboni's government for 2027, to raise the hotel IBI from 1.17% to 1.3%, the legal maximum, did not go ahead. The full session of the Barcelona City Council held this Friday rejected the central file for modifying the tax ordinances, which only received votes from PSC and ERC. Junts, PP, and Vox voted against it, and the abstention of Barcelona en Comú was decisive in halting the initiative.
The debate was divided into three points. Two of them were approved: the freeze on the municipal surcharge of the tourist tax in youth hostels and the staggered increase of the surcharge for cruise passengers, those who stay less than twelve hours in the city. Both received support from Junts and ERC, with opposition from BComú, PP, and Vox. The third point, which articulated the tax reform, fell through.
The confrontation between PSC and Barcelona en Comú marked the session. The Deputy Mayor for Economy, Jordi Valls, reproached the Comuns for their refusal to negotiate:
«If you reiterate your negative position, you are doing a favour to those you constantly criticise, the tourist lobbies»
The leader of BComú, Gemma Tarafa, accused Collboni's government of missing a "golden opportunity" to cut the activity of cruise passengers. She also warned that freezing the surcharge in hostels amounts to reducing the tax for 10,000 hotel beds.
Junts justified its support for the surcharges with a differentiating argument. Their councillor Arnau Vives stated:
«We are not the 'tourist go home' people, we are not tourism-phobic»
Vives lamented that the city's good data does not translate into lower tax pressure for Barcelonians. The spokesperson for ERC, Jordi Castellana, explained that his party supports the three files "in a very calm and conscious manner" because they move towards a fairer tourist revenue that benefits the lives of the neighbours.
From the PP, councillor Víctor Martí criticised the municipal government's tax policy:
«When there is room to reduce the tax burden, it never does, and when it can increase a tax, it raises it to the maximum legal limit»
Martí defended that tourism is an economic engine for the city and not a problem. With the rejection of the central proposal, the tax ordinances for 2027 will have to be renegotiated or extended, which affects the forecast of municipal income and, therefore, the services that depend on them.
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