The extension of a tax of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB) to owners of buildings in the regions of the Western Valles and Baix Llobregat caused a stir in 2019. Thousands of complaints were then filed, promoted by the Unified Non-Tribut AMB Platform. The entity prepares another massive campaign of resources and calls for the metropolitan tax to cease to be collected in 18 towns of the second crown as long as the services of the entity – identified mainly with the offer of public transport – are not equated with Barcelona and its surroundings. The annual bill will be rotated in the coming weeks, following the controversy unsealed 12 months ago by being appraised with an unfavourable formula for many taxpayers.
The body, chaired by Ada Colau, opened up to re-examine the calculation following the neighborhood protests and cost oversteer that some municipalities detected in the levies, a surcharge on the Real Estate Tax. The AMB reports that 15 municipalities provided cadastral data to re-estimate receipts, which fluctuated between small disbursements and others over EUR 200. The result is that the agency will receive a lower amount than it anticipated in 12 locations and will enter 3.5 million less than the 129.4 million it expected.
Although it is confirmed that the tax was inflated, the WBC does not refund the amounts charged. The rebate granted after the check responds to ‘a different calculation method’.
The refusal does not satisfy consistory such as Cerdanyola del Valles, who has entered into a dispute to check the application of the tax in 2019. “No return requests have been answered. That is why we present the appeal”, says Councillor Javier Sánchez, who expects the odds to fall by an average of 20% in his city after reformulation. The cost oversteer has also not been restored in Sant Viceno dels Horts, although its city council announces a 60% decrease in the amounts after adjustment for 12,000 households.
The AMB was armed that most municipalities did not provide information in time to adapt the levy to the current cadastral value of the properties. On the other hand, local governments submit that the revisions to the 2005 coefficients, taken as an arithmetic basis, were not taken into account. One way or another, the effect would have been to pay less. The AMB says 24% of taxpayers in the second metropolitan ring did not pay the fee last year.
The No Tribut AMB Platform claims a refund of improper collections. Moreover, it does not settle for a reduction that underscores that it will not reach all pockets and advocates reinstating the exemption that 18 stocks stood until they were incorporated into the tariffs of the first transport crown. “It doesn’t mean we want a meter, but it can’t be that receipts pass before intervening in poor connections and infrequently passing through, and when investment information is missing,” says Ignacio Laguna, a member of the platform.
The AMB Government(PSC, ‘common’, ERC and JxCat)plans to freeze the tax in 2021, up 7.5% in two years. Cs and PP will be opposed, critical of the surcharge. The body announced aid five months ago for payment in 2020 and approved them in November.
40 minutos para recorrer nueve kilómetros
Pallejo, of 11,500 inhabitants, is a town in Barcelona whose urban center connects through a road with the urbanization of Fontpineda, composed of numerous isolated houses, a school, a private medical center, two older residences, a tennis club and various shops. Residents have complained for years that their mobility depends on private transport or a single bus line that links the urbanization with the Generalitat Railway Station. A bus line not integrated in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB) in which the transport ticket is charged as if it were private.
The Fontpibus, trade name of the service, outside the mantle of the AMB, is used by the neighbors to go to the center of the municipality. Many then get on another bus that takes them to neighboring towns. Users agree that the service is not well enough connected to La Palma de Cervelló or Corbera de Llobregat. Not even with Martorell, where his reference hospital is located. “To get from Pallejo to Cervelló, travelers must make two transfers and use more than half an hour,” they criticize from Platform No to Unified Tribute, born to connect people from different municipalities who do not agree with the new AMB tax on the tariff zone 1.
The city bus lines and their frequency of passage “are scarce”, laments the spokesman of the platform, Armand Capdevila. He has no shortage of reasons to be upset. The journey from the center of Pallejo to Corbera, via the railway and the bus, is 40 minutes even though the two municipalities are only separated by nine kilometers. “It takes longer than to go by train from Pallejo to Barcelona, which is 20 kilometers that run in 37 minutes,” he says.
To travel by bus and train the 12 kilometers between Pallejo and Torrelles de Llobregat, you need to invest 44 minutes. “And let’s not talk about going to Barbera del Valles, which is also the second metropolitan crown, because it is almost an hour and a half by bus and train”, criticizes Capdevila, convinced that the radio transport system connected to the city of Barcelona has collateral damage. “The reticular system prevailing in the second crown, compared to the first one, is not good: it takes exchangers to leave the cars parked,” ditch
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