Karl Smallman
SPAIN is to scrap tax on property purchased by foreign companies, the government has announced.
The move, which comes into force next year, is seen as the latest attempt to encourage foreigners to invest in Spain’s struggling property sector.
Property tax can be a large expense for home owners in Spain, with the government raking in €30,000 a year on houses worth €1 million.
The reforms also include a plan to end taxation on the Spanish equivalent of real estate investment trusts, which is expected to go down well with foreign investors.
Property tax scrapped for “foreign companies”. What about private individuals?
In November the Spanish government announced the right of non-EU citizens to become residents of Spain – for buying a E160,000 property. Is this a joke?
Property in Spain is now inexpensive, but the fees, taxes involved in buying, owning and selling are not.
And as a resident I would be liable for tax on my worldwide income. I expect the queue to sign up will be a short one.
Nice little earner again for the big investor whilst individuals have to put up with rising taxes and energy bills on an almost daily basis, went to buy my smokes today to find yet another 40 cents on a packet, I know I’m a filthy pig who smokes and should be shot at dawn, but the Spanish government obviously feels I can be relied upon to help pay off the nations deficit.
I’m no fat cat, but it seems to me that if Spain is in deep economic doo-doo (and it is) and would like a lot of people with money (other than the foreign mafia and crooks already there) to go and reside in Spain and spend money, then the demand that they pay tax on their world wide income is just stupid and will never happen. But then for government to watch this economic disaster unfold for more than a decade – and actively participate in it – tells me that the elite and powerful in Spain are only smart when it comes to self interest and hiding their loot offshore.