New rent tax collected €84m since 2014

A flat tax on rental income introduced in 2014 has collected €84 million in four years, figures tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Edward Scicluna show.

In 2017, the last full tax year, the government raked in €37.4 million.

Scicluna was answering a parliamentary question put to him by Nationalist MP Kristy Debono.

The rental market has exploded over the past five years in the wake of a growing population caused by imported labour. Monthly rents have increased by leaps and bounds, creating hardship for certain categories.

In 2014, the government introduced a 15% flat tax on rental income to encourage landlords to come out of the black market in a bid to start regulating the sector.

In its first year, the tax collected €5.8 million, with government income rising by more than 500% in three years.

Scicluna did not provide a breakdown of how much tax was collected from commercial and residential rents.