Wednesday, November 07, 2007

The squabble continues

The spokesman for the PP in Bigastro, Aurelio Murcia, has put into the hands of lawyers the possibility of denouncing in court the PSOE for breaches of contract in their electoral manifesto.

Murcia believes that the electoral program of a political party is is a moral contract made "with the citizens " in exchange for their votes.

It appears that the socialist mayor, Jose Joaquin Moya has approved the " update " of the tax on vehicles in most of the categories with the exception of motorcycles. He has also increased the quota of the municipal day-care center from 90 to 110 euros.

In Murcia's eyes, Moya has failed to fulfill his electoral promise to maintain the previous levels. Murcia said, in a press conference, that the PSOE knew before the election in May that the City council was " stiff " (of money) and did not have to include those promises in their programme. The PP was also aware of the fiscal problems that the town faced and so did not make those promises.

Murcia admitted that he doesn't know if a court would consider the manifesto of a political party to be a binding contract. The truth is that he knows the case doesn't stand a chance in court because, if it did, then political parties throughout the world would be forever facing a judge. What Murcia is doing though will bring the problems he perceives with the current administration sharply into focus.

The update to vehicle tax comes alongside a rise in the coefficient which is applied to calculate the final figures. So we can expect a rise in car tax come March. I have to say that, in comparison with UK Road Fund Tax, the tax on cars here in Spain is very low.

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