It seems rather ironic that a tax which is linked with the property market should have shot up during the years when the construction industry has been at a virtual standstill, 
but that is the case with the ‘plusvalía’, which is a municipal capital gains tax charged on the increase in value of the land when a property changes hands. This tax has become a veritable gold mine for town halls in the province of Málaga.
The ‘Impuesto sobre el Incremento del Valor de los Terrenos de Naturaleza Urbana (IVTNU)’, to give it its proper name, is levied on the increased value of a property when it is sold, compared with its value when it was bought. When a property is sold to somebody else, the tax is paid by the vendor. If it is inherited or given as a gift, the person acquiring it pays the tax.
The increase in revenue from this source began in 2013 and has continued: figures from the Provincial Revenue Board and the five local authorities who are not part of the organisation (Málaga, Fuengirola, Mijas, Benalmádena and Alhaurín el Grande) show that in 2015 the total amount raised was around 135.7 million euros, compared with 99.8 in 2014 and 80.3 million the previous year.
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