Jaume Collboni

With 121 challenges and suggestions put forward for the tax by-laws, a fifth were accepted, mainly proposed by Barcelona en Comú, the ERC and others.

Different property tax for hotels with higher cadastral values

Property tax (IBI) for premises in the hospitality sector with a cadastral value of more than 5.2 million euros will increase from the current 1% to 1.17% at the request of Barcelona en Comú, instead of the initial rate of 1.08% proposed. This change affects 223 establishments, 208 of them hotels.

This measure comes in addition to the increase in the tourism surcharge, which was increased to the legal maximum of 4 euros in October, and the proposal to increase the admission price at Park Güell to 18 euros, to be applied from January.

Another proposal will see an increase in the property tax rate affecting properties with special characteristics (BICES), 130 in all, which are basically in Port de Barcelona: cruise ship terminals, toll tunnels and the liquefied natural gas terminal. A progressive increase is planned over three years, from the current 0.8% to the legal maximum of 1.3%, putting the city on par with other port capitals such as Valencia and Algeciras.

Zona Bus 4.0 project

New regulations are established for parking tourist coaches, limiting and organising the spaces making up the bus zone and reducing the impact that these vehicles have on the city, particularly in the busiest and most pressured areas.

A new usage tax is being created for the bus zone, consisting of a reserved space permit costing 35 euros per day. In unique environments or busy areas, an additional 3 euros will be payable for each operation to pick up or set down passengers.

In addition, tourist vehicles will continue to pay the tax on occupancy of public space, which will rise to 12% compared to current rates. The new by-law is expected to see tourist coaches paying an average of 80 euros a day instead of 20 euros.

Waste tax adapted to the new legal framework

As the new law comes into effect obliging a specific waste collection tax which covers the real cost of the service, the result will be a progressive rise in pricing. In response to a proposal by the ERC, this increase will now be applied over four years instead of the three initially planned.

Next year, 72.7% of homes will see an increase of between 5 and 10 euros in their annual bill, according to their category. Specifically, households which pay 27.65 euros a year will pay 32,91 euros and payments will rise from 51,38 euros to 61,15 euros a year. The current discounts remain in place, such as the green point user card, with up to 50% discount for residents with the door-to-door waste collection system in the first year, followed by 20% in the three following years.

Other amendments

Another initiative is for rationalisation and better property tax breaks for the installation of solar energy systems, incentivising the replacement of existing systems with other hybrid solar systems. At the same time, road tax discounts for the purchase of zero emissions cars will be limited to five years and the discount on regulated parking prices will be reduced to 50%.

Finally, discounts from 50% on the tax on economy activity will apply for investments on fixed assets of more than a million euros and the generation of jobs, and for companies establishing innovation centres or start-ups in the city. Discounts of up 95% may apply for investments of more than 5 million euros or which generate over 150 jobs. In this case, the proposal has been accepted not to apply this measure to tourist accommodation activities.

The tax by-laws for 2025 were approved definitively by the Full Council in its December session with favourable votes from the PSC, BComú and the ERC, while Junts per Catalunya (Trias per Barcelona), the PP and Vox voted against it.