Mallorca holiday lets: 10% VAT plan sparks a row

Mallorca’s holiday lets are at the centre of a row over a proposed 10% VAT rate. At a Balearic parliament sitting in Palma on 6 October, Socialist MP Marc Pons accuses the Balearic government of failing to back housing decrees that include the increase. Vice-president Antoni Costa says ratifying the decrees through the standing committee of Spain’s Congress of Deputies would be a “fraud on democracy”.

Holiday lets and the housing shortage

Pons says the tax increase would raise €100 million, with half going to the Balearic government. He argues that moving the Balearic Islands’ 20,000 holiday lets into long-term rental use would help people find homes.

Costa points to the Balearic ban on holiday lets in apartment blocks. He says there are around 5,000 fewer holiday lets in this legislative term than in the last one.

Rent renewals and rising prices

Another Socialist MP, Llorenç Pou, says the housing decrees would affect 69,000 Balearic families whose rental contracts need renewing. He also presses Costa for action on inflation.

Costa says the government is watching prices and talking to affected industries, and that payments from an approved aid package have begun. He says Spain’s central government has not paid aid under its own package to Balearic transport workers and farmers.

Topics: Housing · Environment · Tourism · Politics

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com