pays

While most citizens pay the electricity bill, electricity pays Amancio Ortega: 49.2 million in dividends

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There are people who pay electricity bill every monthand people who are paid by “the light”. Amancio Ortega belongs, without a doubt, to the second group. The founder of Inditex will earn 49.2 million euros this year in dividends from three energy companies in which it has participation: Enagás, Redeia and the Portuguese REN (National Energy Networks). Despite being a considerable sum in terms of dividends, those 50 million euros seem like pocket change when compared to the amounts of its large business, 3,234 million euros that will receive from Inditex in 2026 for 59% of the shares it controls through its investment instruments Pontegadea and Partler 2006. Redeia: the largest energy check. Ortega’s most profitable participation, in terms of dividends, within the energy sector It is the one that the millionaire maintains in Redeia, the company he manages the Spanish electrical network. Through his company Pontegadea Inversiones, the businessman settled in La Coruñaacquired 5% of the company’s capital in July 2021 for approximately 456 million euros. With this position, it is the second largest shareholder in the company, only behind the State, which owns 20% through SEPI. The Board of Directors of Redeia will propose to the General Meeting the distribution of a dividend of 0.80 euros per share charged to the 2025 results, of which 0.20 euros They were already paid in January and another 0.60 euros are planned as a complementary dividend in July. Taking into account Ortega’s percentage of participation, that means about 21.6 million euros for Pontegadea, the same amount as the previous year. Furthermore, the Redeia’s new strategic plan For the period 2026-2029, it foresees a dividend that the company describes as “growing and sustainable”, to reach 0.87 euros per share in 2029, which represents an annual increase of 2%. In this way, Pontegadea, as representative of Ortegawould receive about 91 million euros over the next four years. The Portuguese bet: REN. Ortega’s other great energy pillar in 2025 has been the Portuguese REN, the Portuguese equivalent of Redeia. Far from settling for its initial position, Pontegadea expanded its participation in REN last yearpurchasing an additional 1.7% until reaching 13.7% of the capital. With that move, Ortega consolidated his role as second largest shareholder of the Portuguese company, only behind the Chinese electricity company State Grid Corporation of China, which controls 25% of the shares. By 2025, the REN Board of Directors proposed distribute among its shareholders a total of 106,750,601.92 euros, which corresponds to a gross dividend of 0.160 euros per share. On this occasion, the payment has been divided into two: a dividend of 0.064 euros per share has already been distributed as an advance at the end of November 2025, while a second payment of 0.096 euros per share is expected after its approval at the general meeting scheduled for April 15, 2026. The part corresponding to Pontegadea for its 13.7% of the capital represents about 14.6 million euros in total, which They add to those of its Spanish counterpart. A commitment to energy diversification: Enagás. The third leg of the energy business of the founder of Inditex is Enagás, the company that manages the natural gas network in Spain. Pontegadea acquired 5% of its capital at the end of 2019, paying 281.63 million euros for that package. Today that participation is valued below the purchase price, but the difference has been compensated through the dividends collected over the years. The gas company maintains his remuneration one euro per share for this year, maintaining the containment plan that began in 2024 and will last until 2027. The dividend will be paid in two payments: one of 0.4 euros that was already paid in December 2025 and another of 0.6 euros scheduled for July 2, 2026, with a total distribution of 157.2 million euros among all its shareholders. Due to its percentage of participation, the part corresponding to Pontegadea exceeds 13 million euros. A long-term strategy. Ortega’s investment in the energy sector is not an opportunistic bet in a sector in times of economic prosperity. It is a strategy that he has been building since 2019, when he joined Enagás, and that was completed in 2021 with the entry into Redeia and REN. To this we must add the alliances that has signed with Repsol to participate in renewable energy portfolios: wind farms in Aragón and Castilla y León, and solar plants in Albacete and Cádiz, among other assets. The Pontegadea model does not consist of investments by distribution companies, but rather in companies that manage infrastructure energy companies, which offer regulated and stable income with recurring dividends year after year. They are not high risk investments nor high speculative volatilitybut in strategic sectors independently of the economic cycle. In Xataka | There is a 50-ton “nuclear reactor” in a bunker in Fuenlabrada: it has been donated by Amancio Ortega Image | Pexels (Jan Kopriva), GTRES

Volkswagen is going to eliminate 50,000 jobs by 2030: it is the price it pays for having fallen asleep

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The German giant closed 2025 with the worst result in almost a decade. It is no wonder, because right now Volkswagen is in the middle of several open fronts, among them China’s pressure and USAwave transition to electricwhere it is putting special focus. But the context has not been the only reason. The blow in figures. The Group had a profit of 6.4 billion euros in 2025, 44% less than the previous year. In fact, it is the lowest since 2016, the year of the diesel scandal. Total revenue remained stable at around €322 billion, but operating profit fell almost by half to €8.9 billion. On the other hand, the group’s operating margin stood at 2.8%. Why is this happening? Context doesn’t help, but it’s not just context either. Volkswagen has had structural problems for years that the current crisis has amplified: your internal software it is expensive and slow; China, its largest market, it slips out of your hands; The Trump administration’s tariffs hit its sales in the US and Europe is buying fewer cars than before the pandemic, specifically some two million fewer vehicles per year than in pre-pandemic. In Xataka The electric car revolution has an absolute winner: the Chinese battery giant is becoming more and more giant The adjustment plan. Oliver Blume, CEO of the group, communicated in his annual letter to shareholders that “in total, around 50,000 jobs will be eliminated before 2030 in the Volkswagen Group in Germany.” The cut exceeds 35,000 positions that had already been agreed with the unions at the end of 2024 within the restructuring pact ‘Zukunft Volkswagen’ (The future of Volkswagen). This agreement, signed with the IG Metall union and the works council, prohibits the reduction of staff and guarantees employment until the end of the decade, but in exchange it freezes salaries in 2025 and 2026 and reduces productive capacity by 734,000 units per year. The company estimates that these measures can generate up to €15 billion in annual savings by 2030. The additional 15,000 positions now announced come from brands such as Audi and Porsche, and software subsidiary CARIAD. What’s wrong with China. Volkswagen was the best-selling manufacturer in China for decades. In 2024 lost that position to BYD; in 2025 it fell to third place, also surpassed by Geely. The group’s total sales in the country fell 8% in 2025, and those of electric vehicles plummeted more than 44%. To answer, the group works with XPeng on a specific electrical architecture for the Chinese market, the CEA platform, which is now ready for series production. Blume described the process as transforming “an idea into cutting-edge architecture in just 18 months.” {“videoId”:”x9tnvi4″,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”Why YOUR NEXT CAR WILL SURELY BE CHINESE”, “tag”:”Webedia-prod”, “duration”:”614″} The software problem. One of the group’s most expensive burdens has been CARIAD, its internal software division in which it invested around 12 billion euros without the expected results. The group has pivoted, with CARIAD now primarily managing external alliances. The most important is the one it maintains with Rivian, the American manufacturer of electric vehicles, in which Volkswagen has committed 5.8 billion dollars. Rivian’s technology, its zonal architecture and its software, will debut in the VW ID.1scheduled for 2027. Last week, Rivian CFO Claire McDonough told investors that the relationship is “very strong” and that work is progressing faster than VW could have done alone. In Xataka Renault has encountered a problem: it does not know how to grow. And he believes that his solution is to become premium Porsche, the other source of tension. The Stuttgart brand, usually the most profitable of the group, has also been affected. Its commitment to electric power has cost it nearly 4.7 billion euros, a figure that has practically absorbed its entire operating profit. Sales in China have also suffered. What’s coming now? “We can only achieve this if we continue to rigorously reduce costs. That is what we will focus on in the coming months,” counted the group’s CFO, Arno Antlitz. The group also is studying cuts of 20% in the costs of all its brands before the end of 2028. However, there are signs of improvement: the fourth quarter of 2025 was better than the previous ones, and the group foresees an operating margin of between 4% and 5.5% for 2026. Cover image | Volkswagen In Xataka |Renault wants to become bigger than ever before 2030. And to achieve this they are going to copy the philosophy of the Chinese brands (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news Volkswagen is going to eliminate 50,000 jobs by 2030: it is the price it pays for having fallen asleep was originally published in Xataka by Antonio Vallejo .

Mazda has a plug-in hybrid perfect for Europe. The problem is that for Europe it is electric and pays tariffs like an electric

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If I had to define this story with one word, I would have no doubt: bizarre. To get an idea of ​​the mess, let’s go with a few strokes that we will break down little by little: Mazda has a Chinese electric car that actually has a combustion engine The European Union has lifted tariffs on Chinese electric cars and Mazda has to pay 30% for each one it imports into Europe The European Union does not impose tariffs on Chinese cars with combustion engines. This exception is being used by Chinese brands to gain market share in Europe. Mazda does have to pay tariffs for that electric car that, in reality, has a combustion engine even though the European Union does not impose additional tariffs on Chinese cars with combustion engines. Yes, my head is spinning too. Let’s try to explain it. The history of tariffs To explain a story, Manolito Gafotas was clear: let’s go to the beginning of time. In October 2024after months warning and after some negotiations with China, the European Union raised some additional tariffs to Chinese electric cars that were already paying 10% per car sold in Europe. These tariffs take into account the alleged state aid that China has given to each brand and the willingness of each brand to collaborate. That is, not all pay the same. These taxes were placed on all electric cars that came from China, regardless of the brand that imported them. This is key because all the European brands that bring their cars from China they also have to pay given that, except Teslano foreign brand manufactures its cars in China without being linked to a local automaker. Changan, which is the brand that concerns us here, has to pay 20% additional tariffs that are added to the 10% basic tariffs. That is, for each car sold in Europe, it has to pay an extra cost of 30% on its value. This Chinese company is associated with Mazda, who uses the base of its Deepal cars to bring the Mazda 6e and the next Mazda CX-6e. The first of them we have already been able to drive it in Xataka And, as we told you, it is a car that carries some of the inconveniences of its Chinese origin but whose main attraction is the price. This association It has allowed Mazda a very important step. The company is a small company so investments have to be very well directed and, seeing the embrace that the electric car is receiving in Europe, they have done the math and were not interested in paying for the full development of their own car. But, yes, they have to comply with European emissions standards if they do not want to be fined heavily. One option is to pay the fine. The second is reduce its emissions level below 93.6 gr/k of CO2almost a chimera for a brand where electrification is the exception. The third, and most likely, is to be part of a pool with companies like Tesla to buy their emissions credits. The Mazda 6e and the Mazda CX-6e is very good news for the company since it puts two electric cars on the market at a very low cost for them and a very high profit. For each electric unit sold, the reduction in emissions is substantial and even if they remain above the limit they will have to pay less for those emissions credits. An electric that is not (at all) electric But, in addition to these two aces, Mazda had a third ace up its sleeve. Your saloon Also sold in China as Extended Range Electric (EREV). That is, we are talking about an electric car with 200 kilometers of electric range supported by a combustion engine. In this case, a 1.5 four-cylinder engine that acts as an electrical generator. He extended range electric It is a solution that Mazda itself uses in a car of its own development, the MX-30 REVand it is the option that is proposed to be able to carry out a new sports car replacing the legendary MX-5. The EREV has the advantage of being able to travel hundreds of kilometers in completely electric mode with the appropriate battery and, if necessary, draw on the combustion engine. Mazda’s intention is to improve it in its entirely models with a rotary engine. Thus, the motor hardly takes up any space and adds very little weight to an assembly that will inevitably be weighed down by the weight of the battery, what is happening within the Japanese company itself. But are we talking about a plug-in hybrid? In practice, yes. The car uses the combustion engine as an electrical generator. Thus, it operates at the most efficient rpm in most situations, providing electricity to the battery and that electricity is sent to the electric motors, which are what actually drive the wheels. The advantage is that you have an electric car for everyday lifewith a safety net on long trips and, despite everything, the immediate torque and smoothness of an electric vehicle. The solution in fact, seems like one of the most logical options with the tightening of the European Union’s emissions conditions. And most Chinese plug-in hybrid cars already work this way on most occasions to lower their consumption. But at Mazda they send a message: It will be difficult to see this version in Europe. And there is a technical detail that differentiates a plug-in hybrid from an extended-range electric car. The European Union makes a distinction between the two that does not focus on whether or not it has a gasoline engine, it focuses on what energy propels the wheels. That is, the Mazda 6e EREV is considered electric because its combustion engine never drives the wheels, always works as a series hybrid. Many Chinese cars prioritize this way of working but they are considered plug-in hybrids because, very specifically, their technology does allow the combustion engine to directly … Read more

One of the most downloaded apps for iPhone pays for recording calls to train AI models. It is a security disaster

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The sale of personal data is not a hypothesis, it is an expanding reality. Just look at Spotify: Recently a service appeared that paid those who delivered their profile and their listening summaries to resell them to technology companies. The approach was as simple as disturbing, because it became something as innocent as our musical habits. Neon Repeat the scheme, but transfers it to a much more sensitive land, telephone calls, where intimacy becomes the product. We are talking about an app that decided to convert phone calls into the new digital gold. His proposal is direct: “Speak, record and charge.” It promises users to win “hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year” simply allowing their conversations to transform into training material for artificial intelligence systems. The hook worked. In a matter of days he went from irrelevance to place Within the top three positions In the Social Networks category in the United States App Store. How neon works. The neon mechanism is designed for each call to translate into money. It promises to pay 30 cents per minute when two users of the app talked to each other, 15 cents if the call is with someone external and establishes a stop of 30 dollars daily. To this adds a referral system that offers 30 dollars for each new user. The recording, According to your policyalways affect the sender and, when both used neon, to both parties. Conditions of use. Beyond payments, the true neon reach is in its Terms of service. There the users give the company a “world, exclusive, irrevocable and transferable” license on their recordings. This permit includes rights to sell, modify, create derived works and distribute the audio in any format, present or future. To this is added a section of functions in beta, without guarantees or responsibility in case of failures. The amplitude of that assignment makes it difficult to foresee how far the use of the recordings can go. Where is available and how popular it is. Neon’s initial success was as fast as unexpected. At the time of writing this article, it is number 2 of the most downloaded social applications in the United States App Store. The application, however, seems restricted to that market: in tests carried out from Spain is not among those available or allows its download. The security failure. The story took an unexpected turn when a technical analysis revealed that Neon did not protect the information of its own users. As Techcrunch discoveredjust create an account and review network traffic with a tool like Burp Suite to access others. Shortly after the notice, the founder closed the servers and sent an email announcing a pause ‘for security’, not to mention the filtration. What was exposed was especially delicate: Telephone numbers associated with accounts Public links to audio recordings Complete call transcripts Metadata with duration, date and payments obtained Telephone numbers, recordings and transcripts are not accessible is not a minor failure. With this data, private conversations could be rebuilt and associated with specific people. The risks range from attempts to impersonate identity to the creation of synthetic voices. What Neon says in front of what we know, Neon defends that their processes protect users: anonymity of conversations, elimination of personal information and sale only to reviewed companies. However, the ruling showed that these systems are not infallible. The official communication after temporary closure spoke of “adding extra security layers”, but omits to recognize the filtration. Neon’s fall does not erase the background question: what price does our intimacy have when artificial intelligence demands more and more data? The model to pay for calls can reappear in other forms and other markets, because the need to train systems will continue to grow. What happened in the United States is an early warning that we are not talking about science fiction, but about real proposals that already touch the user’s door. The decision, ultimately, is personal. Images | Xataka with Gemini 2.5 | Screen capture | Neon In Xataka | A new generation of robots promises precision and efficiency. It also opens the door to cyberspage risks

who pays for chatgpt without knowing how to use it thoroughly

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For two years, Openai has offered Its payment users A supermarket of models. Those that it offers now: GPT-4O O3 O4-mini O4-mini-High GPT 4.5 GPT 4.1 GPT-4.1-mini Many variants, each with their strengths and its weak points, their ideal uses. But also, for many users, with confusion as a common denominator. How many users really understood when it was better to use a reasoning model in front of a faster and more conversational? How many knew, or even knew that “they should know”? That selectable model was a poorly resolved complexity symptom. Even Altman himself admitted that they needed to improve it. It is easy to observe in our environment: people paying chatgpt plus to use it without limits or by the promise of a more advanced modelbut without knowing that the model you have to choose it. GPT-4o by default and P’alante. Image: Xataka. There it enters GPT-5. Or rather, the new idea of “GPT-5 as a system”, not as a model. A system that automatically encrupates each Prompteach question, each task, towards the most appropriate type of processing. It is a paradigm shift: The choice disappears as a load and becomes invisible intelligence. Altman was clear when this year anticipated at the beginning of the year: “We want AI to simply work.” GPT-5 responds to that. Eliminates the cognitive weight that supposed to decide among seven different models. Returns to chatgpt The original “magic”: You write something, and what you expect to happen. Not what you have had to optimize. If something has been clear in these years is that a good part of the users are not intensive and experts, but rather applicants. People who pay, but not to experiment with technical parameters. They pay for not having to do it. They intuit the potential, but they neither know nor want to learn to squeeze it: they want something that works in the best possible way, but without complications. GPT-5 is the perfect model for that profile. The user who intuits that chatgpt can be very valuable, but he has no time – desire – to become a Engineer of Prompts. Someone who does not differentiate a generative reasoning model or want to learn it. That he only wants, when writing, something intelligent, useful, relevant happens. And that is where Openai has given in the nail. He has understood that the vast majority of their users are not dumb, but are already somewhat saturated by decisions, and that they appreciate that a technology is responsible for one for them, without spoiling the result. GPT-5 is not smarter because you think more: it is because you know when to think more, and when not to do it. The history of technology is full of transitions like this. First, sophistication as a synonym for control. Dials to turn, ports to choose from, manuals to read. Then, magic: instantaneous matches, cars that slow down us, automatic brightness. GPT-5 belongs to that second category. His ideal user is not the engineer, nor the writer, nor the programmer obsessed with the precision of the model. It is the average user, the one who simply wants something that works wellthat he adapts, that he does not ask for explanations. He who pays without knowing, but finally begins to get what he pays. In Xataka | I have tried the new OpenAI models. It has been a small odyssey with prize: I have a chatgpt at home Outstanding image | Xataka with Mockuuuups Studio

Pistachio’s profitability comes after years and the sun pays from the first lease contract

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In Carmona (Seville), up to 28 solar projects advance on land that, until recently, were sown with cereal, pipes or chickpeas. The boom of photovoltaic in this municipality is not only attracting energy investment, but also transforming the rural landscape and the local economy. This was reported by the farmer José Portillo In a report of the Research Team Program. The most striking of his case is the economic jump: for each hectare of dry land he obtained just about 100 euros a year; Now, leased to a solar plant, it brings 1,900 euros. This is not an isolated case. With contracts from 20 to 30 years and stable profitability, More and more farmers wonder If the future of the field goes to continue cultivating or capturing the sun. And the answer is that it is within the usual: According to the Eave installation companyIn 2024 the average rental price for photovoltaic projects ranged between 1,000 and 2,000 euros per hectare. Of course, not any farm is suitable: soils are needed for energy use, overcome environmental and hydraulic procedures and, above all, have a point of connection to the electricity grid with sufficient capacity. From the grain to the kilowatt. Official numbers help contextualize the dilemma. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, In your Agricultural Income 2024 – 2nd estimate (March 2025)Spanish agricultural income grew by 11.2 % in 2024, driven by cereal recovery (+38.9 %), The olive oil rebound (+34.3 %) and the decrease in feed costs (−19.5 %) and fertilizers (−23.3 %). But that average bonanza is not distributed the same on all plots. The National Agrarian Accounting Network (Recan) shows that in extensive crops of drying the benefits are usually very small, while In intensive accounts change. The olive grove can generate between 3,000 and 4,000 euros per hectare per year; The Almendro in Seto recovers the investment in about five years, and the pistachio reaches yields of 5,000 to 8,000 euros per hectare in full maturity. In short, everything depends on what the farm is dedicated. In cereal dryland, the solar lease far multiplies the usual benefits. In more technified crops, figures can approach or even exceed the profitability of photovoltaic, although at the expense of assuming higher investments, agronomic risks and price volatility. The sun, in any case, has become an economic competitor of the traditional field. A third way: self -consumption. Not everything goes for renting the ground. Another option is that it is the farmer himself who installs panels to reduce their energy costs. According to the Renewable APPA reportSpain already has more than 8,585 MW of self -consumption, 73 % of them in industrial projects, which covered 3.7 % of national demand. Savings is not less: APPA and EDP Energy They estimate that each KW installed is € 157 less per year in homes and € 101 in industries. Field translated: an irrigation exploitation with a 100 kW installation could save around 10,000 euros per year in electricity, more if it adds batteries and adapts consumption to sun hours. An intermediate formula. Between white and black the agrovoltaic arises: producing electricity while growing. Researchers from the University of Córdoba (2024) They have demonstrated that in olive groves in hedge it is viable to install high plates that optimize radiation for both trees and solar modules, without losing olives. International examples also point in that direction: Italian wineries that They have improved the quality of wine Under the shadow of panels or farms in Australia where even the wool of the sheep It was of higher quality. Looking for the combination. The future of the Spanish field may not consist in choosing between sun or land, but in combining them. In the agrarian Spain of 2025, one hectare is no longer measured only in kilos of cereal or liters of oil, but also in kilowatts. With an agricultural income that rebounds thanks to cereal and olive grove, the photovoltaic rent offers many farmers a stable income difficult to match in low profitability areas. Between panels, olive groves and batteries, the future is probably mixed – and will depend, as always, on the ground, the sun and of the network. Image | Unspash Xataka | Spain believed to be very clear about the last year in which nuclear power plants would operate in Spain. Now not so much

Byd pays up to 600,000 euros for unmasking defamatory campaigns

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The electric car market has become something suffocating in China. The competition has shot to the point that some of the fashion companies are denouncing defamatory campaigns against them. The last to do so has been byd. “We accept media criticism and public supervision, but we will not tolerate defamatory content or false accusations.” With these words, Li Yunfei, general manager of the BYD brand and public relations department, has referred to statements collected by Carnewschina. The hard tone comes after Byd has denounced 37 influencers for what he considers a campaign against the company. According to the company, these accounts would have poured misinformation content to damage their sales. More than 150 accounts under suspicion In addition to these 37 accounts that he has already denounced, the Asian giant monitors the activity of another 126 accounts that could, according to their opinions, be misinforming and launching harmful information against the company. This has been confirmed by the company itself a statement in Wechat, according to Carnewschina. In its announcement, the company specifies the number of accounts reported and on which it maintains their attention but also emphasizes that anyone who gives clues about accounts that are organizing these alleged discredit campaigns will be rewarded. Specifically they talk about delivering between 50,000 and 5 million yuan (between 6,000 and 600,000 euros, approximately). It also coincides with A publication in Weibo where they presume past and good reputation. It is in this social network and others like Tiktok where the company seeks who, they assure, to defame their work. Nor is it the first time that Byd carries out a similar action. Last year the company has already taken similar measures and did in 2021. In its messages they emphasize that it will be rewarded “whenever you can clearly sign up for relevant individuals, advertising companies or relevant automobile companies. We will resolve it and inform the public”, can be read in this notice last year. Although, by size, Byd is the one that has the most speaker is the only company that has denounced similar practices. In SINA FINANCE We can read that Nio also suffered similar discredit campaigns. And more recently Xiaomi too denounced a discredit campaign Hours before showing in public its Xiaomi Yu7. In the case of Byd, in Carnewschina They collect some examples that the brand has published. Among them is a Weibo user who It has been sanctioned by the Chinese courts with the payment of 100,000 yuan (more than 12,000 euros) for ensuring that the company manipulates influencers. The same amount will have to pay another user who insulted the company and its executives. And a third will have to disburse about 8,000 euros for giving false information on the safety and quality of Byd cars. All are cases that have already been investigated or that are in the hands of justice, as accounts reported by, according to Byd, to give false information about explosions of vehicles or false financial data that pointed to a possible bankruptcy. Photo | Byd In Xataka | An unexpected war has opened in China: Byd, Catl and Huawei fight for having the final electric car charger

Venice established a rate to combat tourism hordes. Japan has copied the strategy: the one that arrives, pays

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It happened recently with the arrival of the “Holy Week.” Venice enhanced a little more That pioneering toll years ago. The figures that threw the input rate had gone so well, that the city He folded his price. A measure for which Italy sought to restore the balance between the rights of residents and the massive arrival of visitors. A nation has followed the popular enclave: Japan. Mass tourism and fiscal burden. We have been telling: Japan does not stop Receive touristsand given the unstoppable increase, a growing number of Japanese municipalities It has begun To look at the rates used in other enclaves Like Venice: Implement specific taxes for foreigners, in an effort to compensate for the growing costs that tourism activity imposes on local communities. According to Nikkeithese measures mainly include accommodation taxes per night, but are also expanding towards more innovative taxation forms that seek to exclude local payment residents, applying the principle of “who causes, pays.” The objective is clear: preserve fiscal viability of towns and cities that face a reverse demographic pressure (populations in decline in front of booming tourism) and sustain fundamental public services without moving the burden to those who live there permanently. Accommodation tax. Since Tokyo pioneered a pioneer fixed tax per person And by night in the accommodations, others 11 locations They have joined, the most recent of them Atamiin the prefecture of Shizuoka, which began to collect a tribute from 200 yen per night April 1. This tax, which will generate about 600 million annual yen, will serve to finance the new Atami Tourism Office and local activities such as fireworks festivals. The model adopted by most cities consists of fixed rates, staggered depending on the price of accommodation, to facilitate their collection and minimize the administrative load on hotels and hosts. However, there is a unique case with Kutchanin Hokkaido, which since 2019 imposes A 2% tax On the cost of accommodation in its resort area, a pioneering measure that other municipalities, such as Rusutsuthey study to replicate. Miyajima and the model. One of the most significant developments has been the tax applied by Hatsukaichi for access the island of Miyajimathat since October 2023 gravel with 100 additional yen to each ferry passenger. The measure, inspired by the principle of the so -called as “cause pays”seeks that visitors (not residents) absorb the costs derived from their presence, such as waste management, traffic and water and sewerage services. Unlike other rates aimed at promoting tourism, this is a general tax that can be used for any area of ​​the local budget. With a population of just 1,400 people and 4.85 million visitors in 2024, Miyajima was has become a symbol how mass tourism can overflow the operational capacity of a heritage enclave without adequate corrective measures. Biei: Combined taxes. Another illustrative case occurs in Bieialso in Hokkaido, who proposed A double taxation to balance the impact of tourists: a 200 yen accommodation tax per night and a parking charge in the Shirogane Blue Parkone of its main tourist attractions. With 2.39 million visitors in 2023 but only 158,000 overnight stays, most tourists are one -day hikers, which motivated A mixed scheme For everyone to contribute. Both measures are expected to collect more than 239 million annual yenresources that will be used both to maintain services and to support agricultural policies, in an attempt to reinforce the local economy from multiple fronts. Challenges and risks. As both prefectures and municipalities adopt their own variants of these taxes, new challenges arise, including the double taxation risk in areas where regional and local rates coincide. In addition, given that the fiscal performance of these measures depends directly on the concentration of accommodation facilities, the regions with the highest proportion of visitors without prolonged stay can be at a disadvantage, accentuating territorial inequalities. Solution? Some local governments (such as Sadoin Niigata) have considered alternatives such as Input taxes generalized to the island, which would simplify the collection and guarantee a more equitable distribution of the tax burden between short and long -term visitors. Local response to a global phenomenon. In short, the backdrop of this proliferation of tourist rates is still A paradox Increasingly common: destinations of international fame that at the same time face the collapse of their resident population and the overload of their services for the massive influx of those tourists once longed for their economies. As He counted in Nikkei Mneaki AokiProfessor at the University of Kanagawa and advisor to the tax systems of Miyajima and Biei, the “cause pays” adapts well to places where tourists exceed largely in number to the permanent inhabitants. Faced with tourism as a blessing and burden, these mechanisms seek a more pragmatic solution: conserve hospitality without sacrificing tax sustainability (or local quality of life). In that sense, Japan, with its meticulous normative approach, becomes a RARE Av of policy laboratory that could inspire other countries under the same dilemma, going from “copying” Enclaves like Venice to become a pioneer with their own initiatives. Image | Pexels In Xataka | Venice has just activated his plan against mass tourism: an entry rate that doubles its price In Xataka | Japan has realized that to welcome 60 million tourists, something lacks: workers in the hotels

The state pays the car

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Electric car sales fell last year in the European Union. They sold 1,447,934 electric cars between January and December 2024. a figure slightly below 1,538,106 electric sold in the same period of 2023. Specifically, we talk about a 5.9% drop that came dragged largely by German figures. The largest electric car market In Europe it put 380,609 on the market, well below the 524,219 cars sold in 2023. A 27.9% drop that, incidentally, confirmed that the electric car still needing purchase aid where more electric vehicles are purchased. In line, the market share From the electric car also went down in the general photography of the European Union. In 2023, 14.6% of the cars bought in Europe were electric. Last year the figure was reduced to 13.6%. But the performance was very different between countries. In GermanyAs we said, the fall was so great that the electric ones stayed at 13.5% of sales and, therefore, in a technical draw with the European average. Until now, they had helped lift the figures, with 18.4% in the year 2023. Then, practically, two out of 10 cars that were bought in Spain were electric. The year 2024 for our country in the electric car market was not especially good. If more cars were sold, moving from the 51,611 electric cars sold in 2023 to 57,374 electric of 2024 (+11.2%) but the market share barely improved two tenths, reaching 5.6% at the end of 2024. The first month of the year, however, has started strongly. In January, 5,012 electric cars were sold, well above 3,376 vehicles of this type sold in the same month of 2023. It is a growth of 48.5%. The results are noticed in a 6.9% market share when last year did not reach 5% in the same month. But all these data pale compared to a small country. One that has managed to explode its sales in mid -2023, has consolidated them in 2024 and manages to keep them in 2025. We talk about Belgium. Belgium, one of the most promising countries in Europe If we look back, Belgium sold in 2024 127,703 electric cars. 36.9% more electric than in 2023 when they signed 93,285 units. The figure allowed him to add a market share of 28.5% when at the end of 2023 they stayed in an already optimistic 19.6%. That is, in 2023 it already bought a greater amount of electric cars that Germany, if we attend to its total market. In Europe, only Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and, of course, Norway sold more than 30% of electric cars in their local markets. Of the rest, only Finland (29.5% market share) managed to sell more electric than Belgium. Electric market share in Europe in 2023. Belgium was at the same level as France and Germany. But the case of Belgium is special because in the first month of 2025 the fee of electric has risen to 33.8%. In January 2023the market share was 14.3% but in that same month of 2022 it barely reached 8.1%. It was in mid -2023 when the final explosion of the electric car is located. They have achieved it in a very simple way: paying the electric cars of companies. As in Norwaythe success in electric sales has not been based so much on aid for the purchase of new vehicles and yes on the fiscal deductions that are allowed with electricity. In the Nordic country, electric car owners did not pay VAT and some other taxes, that promoted electric sales as any other place. In Belgium they have focused on the fleets of companies. Yes, there were purchase aids (although only in one part of the country) but This same year they have ended And it has not been felt in total sales. This is because companies can be deduced up to 100% of the purchase of electric cars depending on their income. Click on the image to go to the original tweet This has led to the country to 80% of the bought electric cars are registered in the name of a company. And it has been achieved because getting such a car is simply more attractive than a gasoline. In 2025, companies can be deducted 75% of vehicles with combustion engines but will be an aid that falls in a very short time. In 2027 only 25% of these cars can be deduced and in 2028 the aid will fall. However, that same year the employer can continue deducting up to 90% of the electric car. They explain in Bloomberg that in Belgium the car is usually salary change currency And instead of increasing this, companies use it as a claim to reward the employee. If you provide an electric car, the worker can go to his job at a much lower price than if he had to fill the gas tank. The price is higher than in Spain but gasoline is also slightly higher than the Spanish price. Record, according to The last European Union Bulletina price of 1,630 euros/liter, for the 1,558 euros/liter of Spain. To make numbers with the Spanish figures, a car that consumes 6 l/100 km of gasoline will disburse 9.35 euros to travel 100 kilometers. An electric vehicle with a consumption of 18 kWh/100 km and pays the light to 10 cents/kWh at home (neither of the two figures are especially optimistic), 1.8 euros will be left to travel the same amount of kilometers. The program faces Two challenges. The first is that the State is the one that puts from its money all that money that the employer stops paying, which can be a hole (as happened in Norway) that you have to compensate on the other hand. The second problem is also collected in the article of Bloomberg. At the moment, the state push has helped boost the sales of electric among companies due to the pure demand of employers. However, it is a step that the rental, owners of a good … Read more

A study has revealed how much technology pays in Spain

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Compare it what companies of companies charge It is one of the most effective tools to know what range the remuneration of a certain sector For a certain vacancy or the time of request a salary. However, companies on a very rare occasion make that information public. The Manfred Technological Employment Platform have developed the study ‘Salary comparative of the Tech sector in Spain 2025‘In which, crossing the salary data of five companies operating in Spain, they have been able to establish salary bands for different corporate steps. The importance of salary transparency. In Spain it is not very common for companies to announce the salary bands for each profile and their career plans, although this helps all employees to understand how they can grow within the company and how much they can win. For that reason, in 2023 a New European regulations that will force companies to be more transparent with salaries. That information is relevant when request a salary or know if the salary of a certain job offer adapts to the average values ​​of the sector. Salaries in five technology. To carry out its study, Manfred has analyzed the public salary ranges and scales of Cabify, Alan and Factorial. On the other hand, external sources such as Glassdoor or Levels.fyi To know the data of Glovo and N26. Mandred has analyzed Salary progression For the different software engineering roles, depending on the experience and responsibility of the position, from the most junior profiles to the standing or principal standing positions. In addition, having 2022 datawe can see the salary evolution that these positions have had. Roles and salary profiles of the five companies Source: Manfred.com Where does it charge more and where does it rise faster? According to the study, Alan and Glovo are the companies that offer highest wages For positions of greater responsibility. Specifically, a main engineer can win up to 170,000 euros a year in Alan, and a salary of 150,000 euros annually plus 22,000 euros of variable bonus in Glovo. As for Junior profiles, it is Alan again who best pays its new employees, with salaries ranging between 45,000 euros and 48,000 euros per year. As for the speed with which It can be promoted and increase salary, the situation is somewhat more complex. Companies such as Factorial or Alan have many intermediate salary scales, which could be derived in periods of promotion between 12 and 18 months to the lowest profiles. The authors of the study consider that Glovo is the company where an elevated salary (more than 80,000 euros) can be achieved in less time. However, this process may require a career with more than 10 years of experience. Salary evolution since 2022. In general terms, salaries in the Spanish technology sector have improved considerably since 2022, especially in the most experienced positions. For example, in factorial, the highest salary ranges have improved between 15,000 euros and 30,000 euros a year thanks to the incorporation of a variable bonus. In Cabify, Senior and Staff roles have grown between 13,000 and 30,000 euros a year, while in Glovo, L4 and L5 ranges have increased between 20,000 and 30,000 euros a year in the last three years. In Xataka | The salary remains a source of job dissatisfaction: six out of ten employees consider that it charges little Image | Unspash (Sigmund)

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