Sardinia Luxury Tax Repealed
There was much reason to party at the MYBA Charter Yacht Show in Genoa yesterday (7th May) when it was announced that the much anticipated axing of the Sardinia luxury tax had been confirmed.
Ships agents Luise and Sardinia Yacht Services threw an impromptu party on the dockside to celebrate, inviting charter yacht brokers, yacht crews and marine traders attending the show.
All had good reason to celebrate the abolition of the tax, which has done so much to harm the charter yachting industry which at times saw yachts paying up to 15,000 Euros to go onto a marina dock in Sardinia.
Flavio Luise, managing Partner of Luise Group told SuperYacht World that the number of yachts visiting Sardinian ports since the tax went into effect in 2006 had dropped by 50 percent. He said, “This is a very good day for everyone who works in the yachting and luxury sector in Sardinia, Despite our best efforts over the past three years trying to get clients to understand this tax, we faced enormous challenges and incurred a drop of approximately 20-25 percent in revenue each year because of the lack of superyachts travelling to Sardinia.”
Renato Azura of Sardina Yacht Services told SuperYacht World “We have been working very closely with the local authorities for the last three years initially to get them to change the law, and when that failed we campaigned against them to get it repealed. The end result is good for super yachts and will ultimately be good for the people of Sardinia.
