Spain faces another strike by the haulage sector from Monday. sur

Spain gives road transport businesses extra tax relief help

The Spanish government is providing a direct payment through the Tax Agency for lorries, vans, ambulances, taxis or ride-hailing cars and also buses and coaches

Francisco Jiménez

MALAGA.

Wednesday, 9 November 2022, 12:32

Self-employed businesses and companies in the road transport sector in Spain are about to receive extra help to cope with the high cost of fuel. In addition to the 20-cent discount per litre of fuel which all drivers in the country receive, the government is also providing a direct payment through the Tax Agency of 1,250 euros per lorry, 500 euros per van or ambulance, 300 euros for a taxi or ride-hail car and 950 euros per bus. This was planned some time ago but it is being implemented just as the haulage sector is threatening another strike from midnight on Sunday.

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This is the second plan of its type, but this time it includes urban bus companies rather than just inter-urban passenger vehicles.

More than 14,000 vehicles eligible in Malaga

In Malaga, 14,300 vehicles are registered in this sector but in practice more will benefit from this assistance because the register does not include large companies whose tax domicile is in other provinces.

According to the Ministry of Transport, there are 7,200 road transport businesses registered in Malaga, which own 6,668 heavy lorries, 1,498 vans, 1,102 buses (of which 1,081 are public transport), 2,597 taxis, 2,315 ride-hailing vehicles and 180 ambulances.

As bus companies are included in this plan, the EMT in Malaga stands to receive 286,900 euros for its 302 buses. Altogether around 11,000 buses are in service in Spain at present, so the government will be paying out 10.4 million euros for those on this occasion.

The applications have been handled by the Tax Agency and it will be sending the payments by bank transfer.