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I have spent quite a bit of time in Andalusia and other poor Spanish regions. A lot of those towns are empty and have mainly older people left. Young ones do an
by bluecalm 1mo ago
I have spent quite a bit of time in Andalusia and other poor Spanish regions.
A lot of those towns are empty and have mainly older people left. Young ones do anything they can do go to a bigger city looking for opportunities. Some of them serve as retiree/vacation spot for mainly Spanish people from wealthier regions. They are ghost towns during the winter (when digital nomads want to come).
In more touristy but still poor regions (like Tenerife) the official argument for anti-tourist policies is that most of the surplus economic value is captured by property owners while causing strain on infrastructure and making life more expensive for the locals.
To me the obvious solution is to raise property/land value taxes and use the money to develop infrastructure and lower taxes for local working population. This way the incentives are aligned for everyone.
The problem is politics is captured by property owners so it's easier to make villain out tourists/nomads to redirect anger of the locals while continuing like normal for as long as possible.
Nomads are a group that doesn't drain welfare resources, pay for themselves and don't cause crime. They don't even take "your jobs" - they may even create some if enough of them come. If your policy is against them you truly lost it in my view.
- lifestyleguru 1mo agoIt will always boil down to real estate ownership, squeezing and extracting the last available cash with rents. The taxation has to proactively prevent it. Once you allow non-residents to purchase, even if they have local passport, the prices go instantly to the moon.
- bluecalm 1mo agoIt wouldn't be a problem if the tax burden was on property owners. If someone purchasing 500k EUR apartment had to pay even 2% of real value of it every year to local community they would be welcome with open arms. Unfortunately right now it's not the locals nor the local infrastructure that capture the benefits. If Spain (and most of the EU) had saner regulations then who knows, maybe they would even allow for building more in places people want to spend time in.
- vladvasiliu 1mo agoThe issue with this approach is that long-time locals will see the market price of their homes rise with the newcomers'. So if you base the tax on that market value, the locals have it very rough.
- bluecalm 1mo agoYou can lower taxes on labor or structure land/property value tax in a way that it offsets your income tax. This way people who live and work in the area pay once. Someone who pays their other taxes somewhere else but buys property pays twice. You just need to align incentives and make it so people who benefits the most pay the most taxes. Preferably proportionally to how much they benefit from the whole arrangement.
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- nephihaha 1mo agoThroughout the developed world, small towns and the countryside are developed. It seems clear that cities are preferred (probably because it's easy to control people in concentrated areas.) People like Bill Gates would prefer the countryside was full of automated farms and the Tetrapak heir would rather clear the countryside of peasants and turn them into some kind of safari. However, I do not think this digital nomad stuff
- lifestyleguru 1mo agoHistorically this is a spot on. From Highland Clearances to modern accumulation of land and real estate ownership. Those who have plenty, they want it all. The rest should live in a city on 30 sqmt, ideally rent, fully surveilled at all times.