Hi bobaol
Thanks for the info. I might be wrong in a lot of my comments, but I only try to apply common sense to things. I think Spain pleases itself what it does, and in many cases breaks EU law. I suppose niether you or me will ever change that.
The whole idea of income tax, is down to the word ''income''. If you do not let out your property you have no income. So how can you willy nilly be taxed on nothing. Zero % of nothing is nothing. To me its all just made up.
Its the same about being a resident or not. I could and sometimes feel like using strong words, but better not. Its just a bit of paper that anybody can get. Just fill in a form and bingo, you have a residence document. I think this deemed property letting tax in EU law is ilegal, and the Spanish government are using this residence thing as a get out. If Mr Spanish wants a holiday home in UK, or anywhere in the EU for that matter, there is no deemed letting tax, and residence certificates don't exist.
Put bluntly, a EU passport holder can go throughout the EU, stop where he or she wants, for as long as they want without nothing.
Furthermore as far as I am aware, no where in the EU are you taxed, unless you have actualy received an income and it can be proved that you have received xyz £s or Euros. I think the whole job lot stinks and is ilegal. Human rights in the EU says every member of the EU has to be treated the same. So that makes this resident or non resident situation illegal. It was the same about the different rate of withholding tax on a house sale by a so called non resident. Spain got fined by the EU and was told to pay it back. Millions were involved, Guess what, only one guy has ever got his money back, and he was a solicitor that had to go through every Spanish court in the land.
I think the whole job stinks, but the Brits have little or no say in Spain. Maybe I have got it all wrong, but I will listen to any comments with an open mind.