Spanish lower house approves public broadcast tax

The lower house of Spain’s parliament, the Cortes, has approved the government’s proposed tax on telecom operators and private broadcasters to fund the phasing out of advertising on public broadcaster RTVE’s channels.

Under the scheme, telcos and commercial broadcasters will be taxed 0.9% and 3% of their gross revenues respectively, while pay-TV channels will pay 1.5%. The levy to be paid by telcos was reduced by the parliament from the original proposal that they be taxed at 1.5%. The law has still to be approved by the Spanish Senate.