Government Spokesperson and Tourism Minister, Iago Negueruela, is furious that the Hotel Federation is calling for the eco-tax to be removed from the Budgets and reminded them that 855 million euros was paid to businessmen in the Sector to compensate for losses caused by Covid.
"They should be more prudent and responsible," blasted Minister Negueruels. "The money from the ecotax has been allocated to Covid this year for hotels, airport access controls and measures to help open up tourism.”
He added that the Government would continue spending eco tax money on Covid and alleviating the economic impact of the pandemic.
"The Federation should be glad that we are one of the the top destinations in Spain for international tourists because they don’t thinking about what they have to pay, they just want to go to a secure destination. Our value is security and allocating resources to security is the best value in tourism.”
“The Tourist Tax makes Mallorca and the other Islands less appealing as a destination, particularly during a pandemic situation,” said Executive Vice president of FEHM, María José Aguiló. “Maintaining this tax is detrimental, so either the tax has to be eliminated or modules should be adapted for companies that pay taxes under the objective estimation regime.”
The health situation will not be the same in 2022 as it was in 2020-2021 so allocating 140 million euros to Covid proposals, does not make sense.
“Next year Next Generation funds will arrive from Brussels to alleviate the effects of the pandemic on the Balearic economy, which makes the diversion of eco-tax funds unnecessary,” said Aguiló who advocated for an estimation of modules and what was done in 2020, to adapt the modules for companies that pay taxes under the objective estimation regime. The tax monitoring commission will meet now instead of in 2023, as planned, which guarantees that the Government can make free use of the funds without explanations.”