The Majorca Hoteliers Federation has responded to the announcement confirming the application of IVA (VAT) to the tourist tax by saying that it intends to fight the measure.
The federation, through its president, Inmaculada Benito, says that it accepts that the regional government is responding to national law but argues that VAT should not be applied to the tax. It does not correspond, the federation maintains, to payment for an individualised service given by surrogates (such as hotels) for the payers of the tax (i.e. tourists). In other words, the tourist tax is something to be collected by hotels and other providers of accommodation and is not related to services provided.
Benito adds that the charging of VAT means an additional administrative burden and cost for businesses and so compounds a potential loss of competitiveness stemming from the tourist tax itself.
The Partido Popular's parliamentary spokesperson on tourism matters, Alvaro Gijón, has lent his party's support to the hoteliers and other accommodation providers. They will now have to make two declarations - one in respect of the tourist tax and the other because of its VAT. He believes that this is further evidence of the "improvisation" that has characterised the introduction of the tourist tax, while the law for the tax should have been studied more closely. Benito agrees. Tourism policy should be focused on general improvements to competitiveness and should not be producing situations arising from a law that has been poorly conceived.