The removal of these tax benefits could affect the plans of the promoters of Hard Rock in Camp de Tarragona.
Spain.- The Minister of Economy and Finance of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Alícia Romero, announced that the accompanying law of the future Catalan budgets will include the elimination of tax benefits for the gaming sector, established in 2014 to facilitate the Hard Rock casino mega-project.
The minister recalled that this commitment is part of the investiture agreements that allowed the election of Salvador Illa as president of the Generalitat. Specifically, the agreement signed between the PSC and the Comuns states that "the Govern will not promote projects like the Hard Rock mega-casino and, therefore, will eliminate the tax reduction for gaming contemplated in law 6/2014."
"We will raise the tax on gaming again," said Romero, before adding: "If everything goes as planned, this measure will be applied when the budget law and the law of measures arrive at the Parliament."
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On the other hand, the elimination of these tax benefits could affect the plans of the promoters of Hard Rock in Camp de Tarragona. "We will see how the project evolves from now on," said the minister, who assured that the Govern will comply with the "commitment" included in the investiture agreements.
Previously, the CUP deputy Dani Cornellà had asked the Govern to "stop" the Urban Master Plan (PDU) that would facilitate the construction of the Hard Rock mega-project. According to his words, Cornellà argued that supporting the largest casino in Europe or promoting gambling addiction, job precariousness, or continuing with an obsolete development model cannot be endorsed.
The Hard Rock entertainment and gaming mega-complex would be located in the jurisdictions of Salou and Vila-seca, in the province of Tarragona, Catalonia, and this year it was in the eye of the storm in the Parliament.
See also: Support from the Minister of Industry and Tourism for the Hard Rock project in Tarragona
The Hard Rock project estimates investments worth EUR 2,000m and plans the construction of a complex with 1,000 hotel rooms, a casino, a shopping center, a 6,000 square meter swimming pool, a concert space, among other amenities.
The idea of building the mega-complex was born more than a decade ago. Precisely the mayors of both localities were the last to refer to the development of the complex which has made little to no progress in ten years.
