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Last week in my letter to the Editor I mentioned the loss of potential tax income because holiday home rentals are illegal.
A friend of mine challenged me to provide some figures.
According to the AENA in 2011 some 22.7 million tourists passed through Palma airport.
If we take 20 million tourists and according to the hotel association, 40% are staying in the illegal holiday rentals (8 million) and each tourist pays at least 20 Euros per head per night and stays for a week.

And if the government would charge as I suggested in my letter, a mere 10% flat rate for income tax, the government could benefit by 112 million Euros per year. This is a staggering figure. While on the subject if the situation will continue within 2 or 3 years Majorca will lose 40% of its tourism which will drag down with it even more of the dependent industry.

For example car rental will go down by at least 60-70% and when it happens the taxi and all other transport organisation might convince the government to illegalise car rentals.

It sounds ridiculous but also illegalizing holiday home rentals is ridiculous. A few years later we might see a big sign at the airport “The last person to leave, please turn the light off!” Yours sincerely
Bo Kat, Palma