Spain Rejects Proposed Emissions Tax on Yachts

By Ricard Bracons

Spanish Congress votes against proposal to levy new tax on luxury yachts and private jets.

A proposal to impose a tax on luxury yachts and aircraft in order to reduce CO2 emissions was rejected in a Spanish plenary session of the Lower House of Parliament last week.

The proposal came from Spain’s left-wing Sumar party, a governing coalition with the PSOE (Socialist Workers) party. The PSOE, along with the PP (People’s Party) and Vox (the national conservative party) all voted against the proposal.

During the debate in Spanish Congress, the Junts (the ’Together for Catalan’ party) stated that it found the proposal “demagogic” and “populist”. It decided to abstain from voting, as did the PNV (Basque National Party) and the Coalición Canaria.

The EH Bildu party, Esquerra (the Republican left of Catalonia), Podemos (a left-wing party), and BNG (nationalist party) all voted in favor.

José Luis Ábalos, the former Socialist minister now part of the mixed group, was not present for the vote. The plurinational group defended the tax within the framework of a non-legislative motion presented by Júlia Boada, a member of En Comú and part of Sumar.

According to Junts MP Isidre Gavín, Sumar’s proposal was merely seeking a “headline”. He said it only contained four lines and was “empty”, adding that Sumar is part of a government that has been “incapable” of transferring goods from trucks to rail, which is where emissions would truly be reduced.

Representing Vox, Jacobo González-Robatto criticized Sumar for “preaching” about justice, sustainability, and environmentalism, while they are acting “directly to the contrary.”

“Yolanda Díaz [Spanish Deputy Prime Minister] has used the jet more than any of us here today,” he said from the podium. “And Pedro Sánchez [Prime Minister] has made more than 600 flights in an official plane. He has made the Falcon his utility vehicle.”