Last summer, El Poble Nou de Benitatxell made the news when it was revealed that the most expensive street in the entire Valencian Community was located in this town in the Marina Alta. Specifically, it is located in the Jazmines area, in the Cumbre del Sol urbanization. A newly built home in this area has an average price of 2,6 million euros, according to data published by the Idealista portal.
At that time, the City Council was already carrying out some checks after detecting tax imbalances between the different areas of the municipality. Now, these calculations have revealed curious data, to say the least. There are numerous areas that are paying taxes much lower than others. And there are many homes whose cadastral value (it is the reference used by town councils to calculate the IBI base) does not even reach 20% of their market price, when, according to the legislation (Ministerial Order of October 14, 1998 on approval of the M value module and the RM coefficient and on modification of Values Reports), this figure should be at least 50%.
Specifically in the Jazmines area, as the Territorial Management of the Alicante Cadastre has confirmed to the City Council, there are very luxury homes that have on average a cadastral value of only 15% of their market value. Thus, if we were to use as an exemplary case a 2 million euro villa that only has an assigned cadastral value of 15% of its market price (when it should be at least 50%), it could be said that it is failing to contribute to the municipal coffers 5.900 euros annually. That is, of the 8.300 euros that you should pay in IBI, you would currently be contributing only 2.490 euros. And all this taking into account that the tax rate in Benitatxell, which is 0,83%, is not one of the highest in the area. In the Marina Alta there are municipalities that have it (or are going to raise it soon) above 1%.
This problem began to be perceived due to the scarcity of municipal resources to meet the enormous demands for services (cleaning, waste collection, lighting, cleaning of grass and green areas, etc.), especially in urbanizations. «More than a year ago, we began to pull the thread and saw that the council received very little to be able to invest in services, compared to the high demands of the citizens, who, as is normal, demand that their city council keep their streets clean. and safe," explained the mayor, Miguel Ángel García.
Then, through the calculations and verifications carried out by the council, the fiscal pressure by areas began to be reviewed to assess the collective contribution to the municipal coffers and the imbalances in the cadastral value were clearly seen, which has subsequently been confirmed by the Territorial Management from the Alicante Cadastre. It was confirmed that the urban center is the only area (with small exceptions) whose cadastral value remains within the parameters of 50%.
"It is not fair that a 2 million euro villa is contributing almost the same as a humble home because its cadastral value has not been updated," says García, so "we cannot continue allowing this tax imbalance. All citizens deserve adequate maintenance and services on their streets, but with this imbalance it is practically impossible," especially in urbanizations, where each square meter costs much more to maintain due to the dispersion of their homes, which are also almost all single-family homes, which makes services much less efficient and more expensive.
Given this situation, the government team (Més Benitatxell) is already working on measures to adjust these cadastral and tax imbalances. These and others that have been detected, such as imbalances in the application of the ford ordinance that generate comparative grievances.
