Housing taxation at a local level
First of all, we hipotezise that the region of Tarragona is suffering a depopulation process, which impacts on its housing policies, the bad state of repair of buildings, bad levels of energy efficiency, the aging of the population and a lack of universal accessibility, problems of accessing to affordable housing for vulnerable groups and an increasing presence of tourist rental apartments, among other problems.
Therefore, this project aims at analyzing how taxation can solve these challenges.
Home ownership is a clear index of people’s economic capacity. But also, as indicated in art. 31.1 of the Spanish Constitution, everyone has to contribute to support the public spending, according to their economic capacity through a fair tax system. That is to say, the taxes have a fiscal purpose of covering public expenses, but they can also work as instruments of general policy, contributing to meeting constitutional principles, such as the environment (art. 45 of the Spanish Constitution ) and housing (art. 47 of the Spanish Constitution).
In this context, taxation is a cross-cuting element in housing policies, working either as a positive incentive (promoting renovation, energy efficiency, the mobilization of empty homes, increasing the social housing stock, etc) or a negative one (surcharges for empty dwellings), so that its study is essential for the success of any housing policy at the local level.
