After the surprise example of French largesse by airports operator ANA, which agreed to pay a €1 per head tourist tax on behalf of air passengers arriving in Lisbon, it was only a matter of time before other councils with airports in their areas started demanding the same treatment.
Faro has joined several municipalities to demand that ANA treats all 'airport councils' equally and collects a €1 per head tax for each foreign tourist that lands.
At issue is a protocol in which ANA assumed responsibility for the payment of a tourist tax to Lisbon council which the French-owned company estimates will cost it between €3.6 and €4.4 million in the first year of operation.
Faro has linked up with other municipalities in trying to extert pressure on ANA to send it free money, offering nothing in return.
The president of Braga council said today that the idea is to force ANA to take action as he and other council chiefs that already benefit from having airports in their areas, say it is only fair that they are treated the same as Lisbon.
The president of ANA, Ponce de Leon, explained to parliament today that the deal with Lisbon was an interim one as the tourist tax collection system proposed by the council was likely to offend some customers so ANA had stepped in until some better way was developed.
The municipalities of Faro, Maia, Matosinhos, Vila do Conde, Braga, Porto and Guimarães have teamed up to present their cases to ANA.
Far from working with ANA to develop ways of reducing costs to encourage tourism, these councils now expect the airport operator to hand them money just for being there.
Comments
Shhh Roger! Please do raise this debate so openly or Portugal will insist that all companies trading here are registered here. This would mean tens of thousands of happy business owners being turned into targets for ASAE, SEF, local councils, Social Security, the taxman and the mound of costs and legislation that inevitably would follow.
This can be seen in the new 'easy-to-use' local lettings legislation that still manages to involve 5 separate government bodies to persecute those trying to toe the line.
A 'percentage of turnover' basis for social security payments is one obvious answer. Some companies and individuals have to pay social security in excess of their turnover, hence do not bother registering - what would be the point?
The VAT threshold in Portugal is €10,000, the UK is £82,000 -
My company sells to businesses in the Algarve and 40% of my customers are not registered in Portugal, nor, luckily, do they need to be.
Many EU companies register in the UK to simplify legalities and pay their tax there. Germans in particular.
Knowing that the UK applies the laws it signs up for. Clearly opts out of others and has no hidden red lines like Latino countries !
Or has the Portuguese legislators already spotted that and snuffed it out ?
Which yet again makes a sane man ask - what is Portugal doing in this EU economic growth club when it has done all it can for 30 years to control and limit its own economic growth ?
And therefore Portugal knowingly contributed to holding back the rest of the EU !!! Yet keeps it begging bowl out for anything going.