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Archive for November, 2009

Smoking Ban: Government Reports That Smoking Will be Banned as From Next Year in Enclosed Premises

November 6th, 2009

Just when bar and restaurant owners thought things couldn’t get any worse, given the grim financial downturn, you can always rely on the Government to prove them wrong. Mrs Trinidad Jimenez, Spain’s Health Minister, announced yesterday that smoking will be banned in all closed public venues as from the 1st January 2010.

Bar, restaurant, hotel and discotheque owners have only just finished paying off the mandatory expensive reforms to their business premises so as to segregate designated smoking and non-smoking areas in compliance with the newly passed Smoking law (law 28/2005 which came into force on the 1st January 2006). Scarcely three years ahead the Government plans to scrape it off amending this law and banning smoking all together in closed public premises. So basically these refurbishments will now become useless.

On a side note, Spain’s football league are now threatening to go on strike if the tax reform announced by the Government this week is enforced whereby top-football-earners will now be taxed at the highest tax band of 43% instead of a flat income tax rate of 24%. This had garnered Spain widespread criticism throughout Europe on grounds of unfair competition.  Hopefully this will not be the case.

I think some people may be in for a hard time next year if they like watching football or smoking or both.

56 days to go…

Taxes, Uncategorized , ,