Municipalities will have to assume a hole of 2,000 million in garbage management despite the new rate
City councils and provincial councils will have to assume a hole of almost 2,000 million euros for waste management, despite the new rate, which has been mandatory since April 10. The calculation has been made by the National Association of Local Public Finance Inspectors (ANIHPL), based on the budgets approved for the current year. The accounts of local administrations point to a total expenditure on waste of 5,325 million euros, compared to income from fees of 3,488 million.
The problem is that this deficit is only one of the problems that administrations face due to this rate. In fact, the inspectors of the Local Treasury predict “severe budgetary problems” in the local corporations if the cascade of complaints that are coming from taxpayers goes ahead.
It is not the first time that the association that brings together local inspectors has spoken out against this tax figure. Their complaints come from understanding that the regulation of the waste management rate is scarce and inefficient and will cause more uncertainty in chapters such as the calculation of the amount that taxpayers have to pay or the application of payment per generation. They attribute it tol “disinterest” and “inaction” of the Ministry of Finance, as well as the lack of real dialogue with local entities.
The inspectors explain that for the first time in the history of local taxation, a mandatory tax rate has been set that must cover 100% of the cost of the service and that cannot be deficient. “It applies the principle of payment per generation, which is a consequence of another well-known principle: ‘the polluter pays,'” they detail.
The problem is that this is generating a multitude of different criteria in the municipal ordinances to regulate the rate that will also be resolved differently in the autonomous Superior Courts of Justice, waiting to know the criteria that will finally be validated by the Supreme Court.
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