Dawn

Dawn

Monday, January 27, 2014

Unprofitable properties; Taxes on 'art'; The Princess and the Tax Man; Abortion; Segways; & Rain . . .


There are too many hotels in the South of Spain and the hoteliers there are worried. The government's solution? Make it difficult, if not impossible, for people to rent out competing flats and houses. How? By the classic Spanish bureaucratic triad of licensing, inspecting and taxing. Against which no one will complain. Well, not effectively, anyway, as it's primarily foreigners who'll be affected. Those who were told by the estate agents they'd earn decent money on their properties when they weren't using them. More here

Talking of taxes . . . Spain has recently seen two increases in the Sales Tax(IVA), which now stands at 21% for most things. But 'art' is to be given preferential treatment and to have its rate reduced to 10%. I may be wrong but I have the view that only wealthier folk tend to buy works of art. Whereas everyone buys food. So why this development? Does the art world have an effective lobby in Madrid? I think we should be told. But probably never will be. All we've had so far is the self-evident - "It is a measure to support creators of works including paintings, sculptures, art galleries, art dealers, antique dealers and the world of plastic arts in general." So, cut expenditure on health and education but foster art. I guess it makes sense to someone.

The judge in the corrupt princess case has lashed out at the Tax Office for colluding in her evasion of tax. More details here from David Jackson. David, by the way, has a jazzy new site but it's plagued by an irritating blue bird which, I think, has something to do with Twitter.

If you're of the mind that every child - however badly and permanently deformed - is a "gift from God", then you can easily (and logically, I guess) feel that abortion "goes against the rights of disabled people" and that an unborn child's "right to live" should not be legally withdrawn just because it would be handicapped. These statements have come from the minister responsible for the bill which may or may not make parliamentary progress this year. The vicious irony, of course, is that, if the Spanish government forces you to have child needing round-the-clock care for the rest of its life, it won't give you a single centimo to help with the challenge. Well, this may be the Catholic view but it's not the view of the vast majority of Spain's Catholics. So, we will see

Segways are not allowed on either roads or pavements(sidewalks) in the UK. Here they form one of the many things - permitted or otherwise - which threaten the lives of we pedestrians. For which no one seems to mind a jot. The other side of this coin is the 10 or 12 kids I saw on un-lit bikes at 10pm last night, in the middle of the road. Which the police can never be bothered to do anything about. Like the high-decibel scooters with their silencers removed. Strange country. Live and let die, I suppose.

Finally . . . A weather note: Readers may recall we had a stupendous November and early December - not a drop of rain and huge amounts of sun. Well, we've paid handsomely for that, with only 2 or 3 days since then when it hasn't rained. From a liquid point of view, it's the second worst winter since I came here in 2000. On Friday, the forecast was for a bit of sun and cloud over the weekend. But it didn't let up and, thanks to the Atlantic Blanket, I wasn't able to see the city - or, indeed, the end of my garden - all weekend. Jokesters, these Met people. But I blame it on the boogie. And Global Warming, of course. Which was also responsible for the 3 leaks that have cost me so much.

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