Road repairs
Tax time... again!
A reminder to those who pay their
income tax in Spain that the period for
submitting the return for 2017 opens
this month.
Málaga’s provincial government says it will
take a month to repair the road between
Salares and Árchez, part of which was
completely washed away by storms last
month leaving it impassable. Emergency
work has started and will continue as long
as the weather permits. The project on the
MA-4108 has an estimated price tag of
€250,000.
Remains found
Human remains were found last month
between the walls of an apartment being
renovated in Valencia. Police said the
skeleton of a fully-dressed man was
discovered and has been taken for
investigation. The owner of the property
said he had bought the flat six months ago
and had provided investigators with details
of the estate agent who handled the sale.
Gas price
The price of bottled butane gas fell from
€14.68 to €13.96 last month. The reduction
is the result of less expensive raw materials,
cheaper transport and a stronger Euro. The
new price, plus a couple of Euros extra if it
is delivered to the doorstep, will remain in
place until the next review in the third
week of May.
Water complaints
Airports operator Aena is to limit the price
of water in vending machines at airports to
a maximum price of €1.60. It also plans to
installing drinking fountains for public use.
The moves come in response to
complaints about high prices charged
received from travellers by the
Ombudsman, who says that people are also
unhappy about the loss of space as
commercial areas expand.
Briton dies
A 22-year-old British man has died after
falling from a fifth-floor apartment
balcony on Mallorca. Emergency services
were called shortly after 6am last month
and found the victim in cardiac arrest in
the street outside. He is reported to have
been partying and drinking with friends
throughout the night, before losing his
balance.
The country’s tax authority, the
Agencia Tributaria, has released an app
for mobile phones which enables
individuals to consult tax information
and upload their annual tax return if
there are no changes from last year.
Almost 47,000 people downloaded the
program in the first few hours and up
to five million of the country’s 19
million tax-payers are expected to
submit their data in this way.
Those who have changes to make since
last year’s return are directed to the
authority’s website, Renta Web, where
the return can be amended and then
submitted. The Agency plans to make
the app more versatile and to extend
its availability in coming years.
As ever with personal finances, those
who are unsure of the process are
recommended to consult an expert
who can advise on completing the tax
return, or handle the whole process if
required. However, the tax agency is
offering enhanced telephone support
from the formal start of the campaign
in the form of phone calls of up to 15
minutes between 9am and 8.30pm,
depending on the availability of the
client. These begin on April 4, although
appointments for the calls can be made
from April 3, while visits to local tax
offices for face-to-face advice can still
be arranged if preferred, starting on
May 10.
Key dates in this year’s campaign
include: April 4 – Consultations by
phone begin, arranged by
appointment; May 8 – Applications
begin for personal meetings at tax
offices, starting May 10; June 29 – Final
day for consultations; July 2 –
Campaign ends and all returns should
have been submitted.
Racial tensions in
Madrid
There has been tension in the Madrid
suburb of Lavapiés since last month
when a 34-year-old Senegalese street
trader collapsed and died. The incident
has brought to the surface claims of
routine police harassment and racism.
Mame Mbaye is reported to have been
running from a police raid on illegal
traders when he suffered a fatal heart
attack, an outcome which his
colleagues say was the result of
“institutional violence” suffered by
migrants. They say that aggression by
police has continued for the last three
years, but has intensified over the last
six months.
Officers are being accused of
confiscating money and mobile
phones, as well as of assaulting some
individuals, forcing many of the
migrants to return to their home
countries. Some say complaints have
been made to both Madrid and
Brussels about the impossibility of
regularising their situation in Spain,
but that “nothing has changed.”
Municipal authorities have denied
10
the dead man was being pursued,
contrary to claims by witnesses, and
Madrid’s mayor, Manuela Carmena,
has opened an investigation into the
death.
However, tempers boiled over last
month as crowds set fire to rubbish
containers, as well as vandalising street
furniture and bank cash points. Official
vehicles were pelted with stones
forcing police to respond with rubber
bullets. Four members of the public
and 16 officers were injured in the
unrest, while six people detained
included a woman and a child.
NGO suspects
Italy has impounded a Spanish rescue
vessel which refused to surrender
migrants to the Libyan coastguard and
took them instead to Sicily. The Italian
authorities are now investigating the
crew of the Spanish NGO Open Arms
for suspected aiding illegal
immigration, an offence carrying up to
seven years imprisonment. The crew
rescued 218 men, women and children
in international waters north of Libya
last month.