The Socialists neutralize the eco-tax (as an electoral trick)

It was in April 2001, twenty years ago. The approval by the Balearic Parliament of an eco-tax annoyed, and how, in Germany. Led by the Bild, an offensive against the measure led, among other actions, to the massive sending of letters to King Juan Carlos to prevent its application – epistolary protest that the newspaper proposed to nearly four million readers. Reservations for that summer in the German market fell significantly, and hoteliers aligned themselves with the anger of the Germans. Two decades later, the PSOE of the Canary Islands has included the implementation of an eco-tax in its electoral program. Aware that the tax sows loves and dislikes, the socialists have spared no adjectives. Open. Feasible. Finalist. Sustainable.

And tactical. Above all, tactical. With this move the PSOE canary PSOE seeks to neutralize the parties that, in the solar system of the left, champion the eco-tax to hunt and capture the greenest vote. The socialists know that the tourist businessmen of the archipelago are damned funny to demand their customers to pay a few euros more, so it is explained that they have presented the measure in society putting their permeability before their permeability. They have announced their eco-tax in the dialect of the blank books, of the pages to be written. Yes (maybe, perhaps). Yes (in open, feasible). Yes (it will be seen how, and when). Tacticism. Campaign chess. The Socialists have taken the step to short-circuit the possibility that the green vote will escape through the courtyard of the other lefts. Podemos has the ecotax at the top of its electoral narrative. Nueva Canarias has to the extent one of his favorite mantras. The president and candidate for re-election, Ángel Víctor Torres, has decided to include it in his score with electoral tact. The leader of the Canarian PSOE is aware that putting the socialists on that ship leaves Podemos and NC without one of its differential elements. Being the measure in all the electoral programs of the left is as much as not being in any. Unanimity neutralizes those who came before that proposal, the extraordinary loses steam and dawns ordinary, common, generalized.

The socialists have waited for discount minutes to score their neighbors the goal of the eco-tax. The play describes a state of mind, a symptom. Announces that Ángel Víctor Torres is going for everything. With the polls improving his days, the PSOE general secretary is not willing to give away a single vote, and has not wanted to make exceptions with two of his three partners in the flower pact (so named when it was signed, four years ago now) that has supported the current regional government during this legislature. Only the Gomera Socialist Association maintains a differentiated position. Three of the four flowers of the current pact get on the train of an eco-tax that on the islands has detractors and defenders, voices for or against. Although the majority proposes and champions its final character, those who subscribe to skepticism say they have no doubts but also no certainties about the ultimate destination of what, if applicable, collects said tax.. The misgivings do not point so much to the concept as to its execution.

In the archipelago, the need to spin fine with the tasks imposed by sustainability is permeating. Applying correctly and collectively in that direction is an increasingly widespread idea at street level. Another thing is the confidence (or not) generated by the commitment to allocate the eco-euros paid by tourists —if the measure is successful— for the announced purposes. The businessmen go further in their response, when not outright rejection, to the extent. They consider that taxing the destination more will bring with it the loss of tourists. Some hoteliers say they do not fully understand what the measure is or what the real purpose is. They believe that with it the tourism sector is punished and, with an eye on the Balearic experience, they announce that although it will help to increase resources, it will not revert to the promised purposes. Penalizing the customer with the eco-tax will make us less competitive —some businessmen point out— and even unsympathetic in the eyes of our main markets.

Some experts who work with the main markets do not see it that way, voices that rule out that tourists stop choosing the Canary Islands if an eco-tax is imposed on them, among other reasons because, referring to countless studies carried out, tourists are enormously aware of sustainability and They do not object to paying more to contribute with this rate. The prices of the accommodation plant have increased significantly this last year —the profitability per room has risen by 12%— without this increase having caused tourists to stop choosing the Canary Islands to enjoy their vacations and quality customers that it is intended will not hinder a green rate —point out those who do not see a threat in the rate—. Other industry insiders don't see it that way.. Some understand that the tax collection voracity of the public has not been translated or taken advantage of to invest with the purpose that the defenders of the tax argue. How many millions of the tourist IGIC has been allocated to environmental projects?, they wonder. It would be enough to commit a percentage of that tax, allocating it to final environmental projects to do more, and better, without the need to activate an eco-tax —they warn—. Tourists already pay rates on a daily basis, they conclude, as well as clients from the islands, to whom the 7% IGIC for overnight stays is applied.

Hypocrisy? Electoralism? What weighs more in the campaign plumbing of the main parties? It is difficult to argue against the need to advance in any line of action that brings the archipelago closer to sustainability and to the changes in the model required or enforceable, in the short and medium term, both by the directives and by clients who increasingly value measure if the chosen destination is doing well the tasks in this field. It is not enough to project good intentions. We have to get down to the facts. It is necessary to advance in the plan. Few or no actors or operators quarantine these starting points. However, there are those who remember that it is not enough to collect or increase resources that, as occurs with some European funds, sometimes remain in no man's land due to a lack of administrative muscle to manage them..

With the PP warning that those who promote the tourist tax will face them, and with the Canary Islands Coalition calling it an experiment, the Socialists have incorporated the measure into their electoral program with the ill-disguised purpose of preventing votes from escaping on the more constituency environmentalist. Open. Feasible. Sustainable. Finalist. And tactical. The formula announced by the PSOE is loaded, above all, with tacticism. If everyone on the left proposes it, the flag of some becomes the flag of all, losing steam and strength as an asset at the polls. If it is that of all, it is that of none. Mission accomplished. Electoral program completed. Adversaries neutralized. Curtain up. To the streets. To ask for the vote.