If you’re thinking of strolling along Palma’s Paseo Maritimo any day between April 30th and May 8th, beware of a startling, one-minute chorus of yacht hoots at noon, emitted every day from the Palma Boat Show and expected to echo throughout the nearby marinas. This chorus is translated as the maximum expression of discontent and a simultaneous call to members of the Balearic and Central government to remedy the ongoing problem the nautical sector has had to face since the dawn of charter business: the Spanish Matriculation Tax. And one wonders, is the enforcement to pay an additional taxation of 12% of a yacht’s value ironically meant to antidote the delicate economy of the Balearics in these times of crisis? Would it not make more sense to scrap the Matriculation Tax, exclusive to Spain, and help energize one of the island’s dormant, yet imminently prosperous, economic resources?. By Haley Khaghani
Download this press release