EspañolThe purpose of the taxes is to contribute to environmental protection and to town and country planning by attempting to correct and counterbalance the adverse effects of large retail establishments.
According to the CJEU, “exemptions based on the size or nature of the activities of an establishment provided for by taxes such as those in question do not constitute State aid for the purposes of the FEU Treaty, provided that the establishments exempted from the tax do not have as significant an adverse effect on the environment and on town and country planning as the others”.
In addition, the CJEU concludes that “with regard to Catalonia, the effect of the criterion drawing a distinction for fiscal purposes on the basis of the individual nature of retail establishments is to exempt from the tax large collective retail establishments with a surface area equal to or above the tax threshold (…) renders the exemption selective and constitutes State aid, as the other conditions set out in the FEU Treaty are met”.