A.: It appears from Mr Loizou articles that the Government is to go ahead with the plan to tax swimming pools. So having killed tourism through greed we are now using the housing market as the next cash cow. Greed is behind the idea that taxation helps the environment. Taxation raises money for the Government it does not rectify an environmental mistake. Or is it that most pools are owned by expats, and this is a discrimination tax?
Still the Brits are getting the message, buy in Cyprus and you will never get the title deeds to your home, and worst risk losing .all your money. This is the reason why the building industry has been in decline since 2005 and now the Government is driving in the final nails. The Brits have learnt to stay away, as they have with Spain. Just in front of us is a new estate where not one single house has been sold. With the poor rate of exchange, Cyprus has priced itself out of the market and the Brits with pools are struggling to cope with the increase in prices. Those with any sense would be trying to think of ways to encourage a re-birth in the market; but in Cyprus when customers fall off, we increase the prices, to milk those who still come, never thinking of tomorrow.
So when are we going to tax the locals who own patios, which use so much more water than my pool, or do we resort to blame, the foreign maid?
And as for Mr Antonis Loizou he states he does not understand the logic about pools, but owns two of them, how very Cypriot.

Peter G. Davis

A.: I cannot possibly see your logic and of course I do not adopt it. To discriminate between locals and expats is by itself a serious mistake, since such a fact does not exist and to say it, it is provocative placing “us and them”. This is not only morally wrong, but fatally also, since a large percentage of locals have pools at a rate higher than the expats as you call them. The tax idea is to make those people who use more water than that absolute necessary to pay, so that the collected money is invested in other water resources and in water conversion systemσ (the water import from Greece will cost us €42 mil. for 3 months of water supply). The fact that I have two pools built 18 years ago I fail to see how it relates to today’s circumstance since I will pay this tax as the others. I do not say we must not have a pool, but to tax them. I repeat it is a survival question. Regarding to youρ other comments on the property market, although I share your views on some points, I cannot adopt that this is the norm in Cyprus. There is a sharp reduction in demand for real estate in the U.K., the largest U.K. house builder has serious problems and it looks that he is going under (see Economist) and commercial accommodation has experienced a drop of around 25% and this is the start. So if you are to look at the Cyprus foreign demand market, you must examine it in the international/European context.

A.P. Loizou
 

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