Collboni hopes to recover the Amazon tax in Barcelona through the courts

The Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, assures that the City Council will continue to litigate to recover the tax on large postal operators. The council estimates around three million euros annually.

The Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, wants to reinstate the tax levied on large postal operators for parking their delivery vans in public spaces. He stated this on Wednesday at the retail conference of Comertia, held at CosmoCaixa.

The measure, known as the Amazon tax, came into effect in March 2023. Prior to this, the Catalan Competition Authority and the National Commission on Markets and Competition had challenged it. Then came the ruling from the High Court of Justice of Catalonia, which declared the tax null and void.

The City Council has not given up. The Supreme Court accepted the municipal appeal against that ruling for processing at the beginning of 2026. Collboni claims that he will continue to fight in the courts.

"I am sure we can win"

According to the council's calculations, the tax would allow for the collection of nearly three million euros per year, which would be allocated to physical and local commerce. Collboni compares it to the payments made by water, gas, or electricity companies for using the city's subsoil.

The Mayor believes that attention should be focused on "the big players" in the sector, citing Amazon, DHL, and Seur, so they do not overshadow medium and small businesses. He also acknowledges that the City Council sees it as a battle of "David against Goliath."

"There are merchants who have a business in the city and pay their taxes, while others have their tax headquarters outside the state and do not contribute"

From the commerce sector, the president of Comertia, Ignasi Pietx, points to large platforms as the main threat to family businesses. Pietx argues that he does not reject technology, but denounces that the sector competes with different rules and criticises the bureaucracy that small businesses endure.

The conference was held after a few days of unrest in central Barcelona and looting in some shops. Pietx condemned these acts, called for "full solidarity" for the affected businesses, and demanded that the administration take "strong actions" to prevent them from happening again.