The nautical sector warns of the negative impact of the new 'luxury goods' tax on Catalonia

The proposal for a law on the application of the tax on non-productive assets of legal persons, known as the 'luxury goods' tax, which taxes, among other assets, recreational vessels in the name of companies, and which are not used for productive activity but for particular uses, has been adopted in the plenary session of the Parliament of Catalonia. The approval of this measure coincides with the beginning of the nautical season which, in view of the data of registration of recreational boats - with a growth in Catalonia of 7.17% in the first quarter of this year - augurs good economic results and, consequently, generation of business and employment in the sector. The employer ANEN (National Association of Nautical Enterprises), as it has already reported, fears that the application of this new tax which is in addition to the already unequal and unfair taxation of the field of recreational nautical in our country (registration tax that tax with 12% on recreational boats of more than 8 meters for private use + VAT = 33% on the value of the purchase of the vessel), has an impact on a fall in investment and can therefore lead to a contraction in the growth of the business.

It is not understood that a sector with the potential of nautical, precisely in Catalonia that occupies the first position (20%) of the national nautical market, will be penalized with a further tax at this time when the sector presents signs of growth and opportunities for the development of new businesses, said the secretary general of ANEN, Carlos Sanlorenzo. It is a mistake to consider "good of luxury" a 6-meter-long recreational boat, for example, and we think it is very serious that it be used to a productive sector such as the nautical of recreation as a currency to take forward the budgets of Catalonia, continues Carlos Sanlorenzo. The tax will compute this year from June 30, and from January 1 in the following exercises, and will have a tax rate that is progressive from 0.21 to 2.75 percent. The tax base shall be calculated on the total sum of all non-productive assets registered under the same name.