I already requested the Federation of Neighborhood Associations in September: reduce the property tax to compensate for the added expense that the new waste rate will entail. The Governing Board of the Madrid City Council approved this Thursday to comply with it. The new tax, promoted by the central government to comply with a European Union directive, will be applied compulsorily on April 10 in all Spanish municipalities with more than 5,000 inhabitants. In the capital, on average, Madrid residents will have to pay 140 euros per year, but it will vary depending on the cadastral value of each home and the amount of waste generated by each neighborhood. The mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, has announced that he will reduce the Real Estate Tax (IBI) by 0.02% to cover 86% of what the new waste rate will mean.
Almeida has referred to the new tax as “the Sanchazo” and has criticized “the fiscal voracity of the central government.” “Madridians know that we lower taxes, we don’t raise them. They know that if we have to set this rate it is because Sánchez has decided to force us to set it,” the mayor defended himself. The municipal government has greatly emphasized that they have used all the tools at their disposal to minimize the impact of this measure as much as possible and apply it as late as possible.
Although the law that establishes this new tax arises from a European directive, the municipal government blames the central executive. The rule has been approved almost a decade after the Court of Justice of the European Union condemned Spain for the first time in 2016 for the abandonment of 30 landfills. In 2017, the ruling was repeated again, for another 61. In 2020, Spain became the European country that took the largest amount of waste to landfills. The law promoted by the Government in 2022, and by which Madrid will now apply this new rate, provides for 40 euros to be paid for each ton of municipal waste dumped without being subjected to treatment. The PSOE proposed at that time that the rate be homogeneous for the entire community, but the opposition rejected it.
Next year, the waste tax will have to be made in a single payment and notifications will reach citizens on different dates, depending on their place of residence. Starting in 2026, payments may be fractional.
It will consist of two parts, one fixed and one variable. The fixed amount will be 81% of the total payable and will be calculated based on the cadastral value of each home or premises. More expensive properties will pay more. Garages, storage rooms, plots of land and ruined buildings will be freed from this payment. That is, those that do not generate waste. Homes will pay an average of 140 euros, but commercial premises will pay more, approximately 310.
The variable part considers the amount of waste generated in each of the 131 neighborhoods of the city. It will also take into account how much you recycle on average each year. The City Council has prepared a report on the quality of recycling in each area of Madrid with the information provided by the cleaning concessionaire companies. The municipal government assures that the bars will be counted independently in this case. If a neighborhood has more bars and they do not recycle, it will not count negatively for the neighbors.
