Iruraiz-Gauna approves the tourist tax and revises the 2027…

The Iruraiz-Gauna City Council has initially approved the creation of the Tourist Stay Tax and the modification of four tax ordinances that will be applied in the 2027 fiscal year. The agreement was adopted by the municipal corporation in a plenary session on October 16, 2026, and is published in the Official Gazette of the Historical Territory of Álava (BOTHA) number 123, dated October 26, 2026, with the official reference 2026-02987. Interested parties have 30 business days to examine the file and submit claims.

The plenary agreement and its processing

The announcement is signed by the mayor, Iratxe del Barco Murua, in Azilu, and is issued under Article 19 of the Provincial Regulatory Decree 1/2021, of the Provincial Government Council of September 29, which approves the consolidated text of the Provincial Norm regulating Local Treasuries. This provision requires provisional agreements regarding the imposition and organization of local taxes to be submitted for public information before their final approval.

The exhibition period is 30 business days starting from the day following the insertion of the announcement in the BOTHA. The text specifies that, if no claim is submitted, the agreement, which until then was provisional, will be considered definitively adopted without the need for a new plenary pronouncement.

The four tax ordinances being revised

The modification affects the following municipal tax regulations:

Tax ordinance regulating the Real Estate Tax.
Tax ordinance regulating the Mechanical Traction Vehicle Tax.
Tax ordinance regulating the fee for the provision of public services and performance of administrative activities, including its annex regarding the provision of garbage collection services.
Tax ordinance regulating the fee for the private use or special exploitation of the soil, subsoil, or airspace of municipal public roads, in favor of utility service operating companies.

This last text is the one that most directly affects supply companies—electricity, water, gas, or telecommunications—that deploy networks and occupy local public domain within the municipal district.

A new tax for the tourism sector

Along with the revision of the current ordinances, the plenary agreed on the initial approval of the regulatory ordinance and the imposition of the Tourist Stay Tax. This is a tax figure specific to Basque municipalities that taxes overnight stays in accommodation establishments, and whose collection is used, in practice, to finance tourism services and promotion.

The published announcement does not detail tax rates, bases, or accrual periods, which must be consulted in the file submitted for public information. This measure adds to the wave of approvals of this tax recorded in Álava during 2026: in recent months, municipalities such as Elciego, Lanciego, Leza, Navaridas, Kripan, and Lantaron, among others, have processed their ordinances.

A small municipality with dispersed management

The context of the agreement is outlined by the council itself in the 2026-2028 Strategic Grant Plan, published in BOTHA number 113, dated October 2, 2026. Iruraiz-Gauna is located in the region of Llanada Alavesa, with an area of 47.13 km², a population of 583 inhabitants, and 11 administrative boards within its boundaries, which characterizes it as a low-density municipality with a dispersed population.

This structure conditions the provision of services: the City Council relies on the administrative boards and organized civil society to sustain activities that would otherwise be unfeasible. The revision of waste, public road, and vehicle fees responds to this same logic of sustaining services with fixed costs distributed among few residents.

What it means for residents and companies

The decision affects three distinct groups: residents, who will see updated bills for IBI (property tax), vehicles, and waste in 2027; supply companies, subject to the public road occupation fee; and the tourism sector, which must pass the new stay tax on to its prices. Any resident, company, or organization may submit allegations to the Iruraiz-Gauna City Council during the 30 business days following publication, a procedure that, if successful, would force the texts to be modified before coming into effect.

Source: Official Gazette of the Historical Territory of Álava (BOTHA), no. 123, dated October 26, 2026, section II - Local Administration of the Historical Territory of Álava, page 1 (official reference: 2026-02987).