Far-right Vox plans its own limits on foreigners buying homes in Spain

Vox, the political party that recently proposed deporting 8 million foreigners in Spain, has its own plans to limit foreigners from buying property.

The party headed by Santiago Abascal has in fact suggested a measure that was already proposed by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in January: tax foreign buyers more.

Apart from this "dissuasive tax regime", Vox also want to prioritise Spaniards having access social housing and related social benefits.

Furthermore, they've proposed scrapping VAT and Property Transfer Tax (ITP) on the purchase of primary residences, as well as other measures to increase construction by freeing up land and simplifying procedures.

READ ALSO: Spain's far-right Vox rises in the polls at expense of centre-right

According to a report by Spanish news agency Europa Press, these initiatives will be discussed at the next parliamentary meeting, following an interpellation sent to Spanish Minister of Housing Isabel Rodríguez last week.

An interpellation is a parliamentary procedure where legislators formally question a government official. Vox has now sent four interpellations to Rodríguez over the last year.

Vox says it completely disagrees with the housing policies put forward by the left-wing government to help solve Spain's housing crisis and have said they are “ineffective”.

However, they did not miss out on the opportunity to blame Spain's property problems on illegal immigration, arguing that there is a "direct relationship between massive illegal immigration and rising housing prices".

Abascal has previously said that the left-wing government subsidises housing for undocumented migrants, allowing to rent at a much cheaper rate than Spaniards.

READ ALSO: Who exactly would have to pay Spain's 100 percent property tax?

At the beginning of this year, Pedro Sánchez said: "We have decided that we are going to limit the purchase of properties by non-EU foreigners from outside the EU” by drafting a law for a 100 percent tax on property for foreign buyers.

This would affect buyers who do not reside in the EU, not foreigners living in Spain. Therefore, new UK and US second home owners would pay double the price for a holiday home here.

It is not clear yet if Vox would want all foreign buyers to be confronted by their "dissuasive tax regime" or if they would prefer to make a distinction between so-called 'expats' and what they consider to be 'migrants'.

In April, the ruling Socialists lodged the proposal for this 'super tax' but it hasn’t made it to Congress and there’s been no update on when or even if it will be approved.

Other measures put forward by Sánchez in a bid to put a stop to the housing crisis are a rent-to-buy programme which would give young people almost €30,000 to help eventually purchase a property, rent default insurance for landlords who rent out at reasonable rates to young people and more money allocated to housing budgets.

They have also put solutions in place to free up land, increase construction of social housing and make procedures easier, similar to what Vox is proposing.