The changes in the IVA rate (from 18% to 21% and the lower rate increased from 8% to 10%) will take place on September 1st (don't wanna upset the tourists). Glasses, cinema tickets and the hairdresser (El Mundo says helpfully) will be moved from the reduced rate to the full and flavoursome one. The Economist: '...as Mr Rajoy turns to his European Union partners to bail out Spain’s banks, his freedom to pursue his own policies is dwindling. The tax rise is a direct imposition by Spain’s new masters in Brussels'. From the same article: '“Years of austerity await us,” says Antonio Argandoña of IESE business school'. ('Spanish Woes: Hard Pounding').
IVA on buying a house will go up on January 1st from 4% to 10% (see Almeria Coastal for a few choice Mojácar properties).

The Government also announced today that houses built within the purview of the dreaded (and arbitrary) Ley de Costas will now be safe for 75 years. These homes may also be 'bought or sold' and won't be threatened with demolition until the year 2093. 'Tourism is important', thundered the spokesperson for the Government, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, and the newly defined law's thrust is for '...the protection of our coastal environment, which is the foundation of our tourism'. Beach-bars have meanwhile been given licences for four years.