Spain plans 100% tax for houses purchased by non-EU residents | EUROtoday

Spain is planning to impose a tax of as much as 100% on properties purchased by non-residents from nations outdoors the EU, such because the UK.

Announcing the transfer, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stated the “unprecedented” measure was essential to fulfill the nation’s housing emergency.

“The West faces a decisive challenge: To not become a society divided into two classes, the rich landlords and poor tenants,” he stated.

Non-EU residents purchased 27,000 properties in Spain in 2023, he advised an financial discussion board in Madrid, “not to live in” however “to make money from them”.

“Which, in the context of shortage that we are in, [we] obviously cannot allow,” he added.

The transfer was due to this fact designed to “priorit[ise] that the available homes are for residents”, he stated.

Sánchez didn’t present particulars on how the tax would work nor a timeline for presenting it to parliament for approval, the place he has usually struggled to assemble adequate votes to move laws.

But his authorities stated the proposal can be finalised “after careful study”.

It is considered one of a dozen deliberate measures introduced by the prime minister on Monday geared toward enhancing housing affordability within the nation.

Other measures introduced embrace a tax exemption for landlords who present inexpensive housing, transferring greater than 3,000 houses to a brand new public housing physique, and tighter regulation and better taxes on vacationer flats.

“It isn’t fair that those who have three, four or five apartments as short-term rentals pay less tax than hotels,” he stated.