WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1380/99 by Johannes SWOBODA Income tax levied on assets in a Member State of the Union
C 27 E/34 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 29. 1. 2000 (2000/C 27 E/037) WRITTEN QUESTION P-1380/99 by Johannes Swoboda (PSE) to the Commission (1 September 1999) Subject: Income tax levied on assets in a Member State of the Union At the request of an Austrian citizen who owns a house in Spain, I wish to ask the Commission: 1. Does this make the Austrian liable to income tax in Spain ü whether or not he lets the house? 2. Would he be liable to income tax only if he let the house to a third party? 3. Does this arrangement infringe EU legislation (e. g. avoidance of double taxation)? Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission (15 September 1999) The Spanish legislation provides that residents and non-residents who own a property in Spain, even if that property is occupied by the owner and is a non-rented property, have to include in their income, subject to personal income tax, 2 % of its adjusted rateable value. In case of non-residents the income tax is levied at a flat rate of 25 %. For residents, the rate of taxation is the marginal rate of personal income tax applied to taxable income (up to 56 %). According to the convention of 20 December 1966 concluded between Austria and Spain for the avoidance of double taxation, modified by the Protocol of 24 February 1995, and in particular Articles 6 and 24(1)(a), income from immovable property is taxable solely where the property is located, i. e. in Spain in the present case. So, no double taxation of such income could take place for that taxpayer. The Commission does not see how that legislation, which does not appear to contain any discriminatory provisions, could be in infringement with Community law. (2000/C 27 E/038) WRITTEN QUESTION P-1381/99 by Mark Watts (PSE) to the Commission (1 September 1999) Subject: Deregulation of public transport services Will the Commission please state the extent to which deregulation of public transport services has taken place to date in each EU Member State. Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission (7 September 1999) The Commission sponsored the Isotopeí research report which distinguished between (a) deregulation, in which there is open access to the market (competition áon the groundí); (b) limited competition, in which operators hold exclusive rights for particular routes or areas but have to take part in competitive tendering every few years (competition áfor the groundí); (c) the classical model, in which an operator enjoys an exclusive right indefinitely without competition