Spain plans to impose a tax of as much as 100% on properties purchased by non-residents from nations outdoors the EU, such because the UK.
Announcing the initiative, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stated the “unprecedented” measure was mandatory to deal with the nation’s housing emergency.
“The West faces a decisive problem: to not develop into a society divided into two courses, the wealthy landowners and the poor tenants,” he stated.
Non-EU residents purchased 27,000 properties in Spain in 2023, he stated at an financial discussion board in Madrid, “to not reside in” however “to make a revenue”.
“Which, within the context of shortages that we discover ourselves in, (we) clearly can’t enable that,” he added.
The transfer was due to this fact designed to “prioritize ensuring the houses out there are for residents”, he stated.
Sánchez supplied no particulars on how the tax would work or a timeline for presenting it to parliament for approval, the place he has typically struggled to muster sufficient votes to go the laws.
But his authorities stated the proposal could be finalized “after cautious research.”
It is one among a dozen measures introduced by the Prime Minister on Monday geared toward bettering housing affordability within the nation.
Other measures introduced embrace a tax exemption for homeowners offering reasonably priced housing, the switch of greater than 3,000 houses to a brand new public housing authority, more durable regulation and better taxes on vacationer residences.
“It’s not truthful that individuals who hire three, 4 or 5 short-term residences pay much less tax than inns,” he stated.
